DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) -- Plans to allow married same-sex couples to qualify as families for camping permits reflects an “insidious pattern” of state agencies seeking to change rules to benefit such couples, an Iowa lawmaker charged Monday.
Sen. Merlin Bartz, a Republican from Grafton, opposes same-sex marriage and was troubled that the Department of Natural Resources would propose the new rules. He said the changes, considered Monday by a legislative committee, follow similar moves by state agencies that oversee public pensions and income taxes.
The proposed change would allow married same-sex couples with children to stay in family designated camping areas and have more than one tent or trailer on a single site.
“We're starting to see an insidious pattern of state agencies coming to us,” Bartz said. “The fact that the department is changing the definition of immediate family, it does continue the pattern. ... It's a position I philosophically disagree with.”
Department of Natural Resources officials said they are only trying to comply with state law. The current policy was approved before heterosexual couples could marry in Iowa.
The Iowa Supreme Court ruled in 2009 that a state law defining marriage as between a man and woman violated the state constitution. Republicans in the Legislature sought to refer a constitutional amendment to voters a process that takes at least two years but Democrats who hold majorities in both chambers refused to take action before adjourning in March.
Since the court ruling, Bartz said, state officials also have sought changes to public employee retirement fund regulations to allow same-sex couples to pass along benefits to partners. And state revenue officials now allow same-sex couples to file joint tax returns.
State agencies should leave those decisions to the Legislature, which “has not addressed the issue at all,” Bartz said.
His concerns stunned and puzzled some same-sex couples and lawmakers.
“Who the hell cares what the relationship is?” Senate President Jack Kibbie, D-Emmetsburg, asked during a hearing on the issue Monday before the interim Administrative Rules Review Committee, which didn't vote on the change. “To me it's a non-issue.”
Urbandale resident Mary Evans, who married her partner of 13 years shortly after same-sex unions were legalized in Iowa last year, said Bartz's assessment was concerning. The couple has two daughters, ages 6 and 4, and bought a camper last fall.
“Next to going to church, camping is about the most family friendly, wholesome activity you can do. And to think this senator would be so focused on trying to exclude certain families from camping in a family friendly area of a campground,” she said. “It's offensive, and it's hurtful.”
Evans acknowledged that there were strong feelings but wondered why lawmakers would spend time on such an issue.
“These are serious times, and we have much more important things to be worrying about than who gets to put up two tents on one site at a camp site in Iowa,” she said. “It's really grasping at straws.”
Sen. Wally Horn, D-Cedar Rapids, backed the Department of Natural Resources' plans. He said lawmakers made their position clear by choosing not to begin the process of referring a constitutional amendment banning gay-marriage to voters.
“We did respond because we didn't change it,” Horn said. “We decided to do nothing.”
The proposed change will be considered this week by the Natural Resources Commission, which oversees the agency. If the panel approves the change, the issue would return to the legislative committee. Lawmakers could either approve the change or delay its enactment until the full Legislature comes into session in January.
Associated Press writer Luke Meredith contributed to this report.
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