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Friday, May 24th

You are here: Heartland News Politics and Law Sponsor Of Iowa’s Anti-Gay Marriage Bill Agrees That Gays Are Public Health Risk (ThinkProgress)

Sponsor Of Iowa’s Anti-Gay Marriage Bill Agrees That Gays Are Public Health Risk (ThinkProgress)

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Last week, Good As You’s Jeremy Hooper put together a video exposing the anti-gay rhetoric of The Family Leader, a conservative group spearheading the repeal same-sex-marriage campaign in Iowa. President Bob Vander Plaats, who ran for governor last year, publicly presents the organization as a traditional religious group that is more interested in restoring biblical values than slandering gay people, but more quietly describes homosexuality as a public health crisis akin to smoking, and endorses discredited ex-gay reversal therapies.

Yesterday, ThinkProgress interviewed Iowa State Rep. Dwayne Alons (R) — a co-sponsor of Iowa’s anti-gay marriage bill — in the state capitol and asked him if he agreed with the Family Leader’s characterizations. Alons did, reciting some bullet points from the Family Leader’s “fact sheet” and suggesting that defining marriage between a man and a woman would reverse these “problems to society”:

"TP: There is also this argument that argues that homosexuality is a public health hazard, that there are higher rates of STDs and higher rates of other diseases. Do you agree with that view?"

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Complete article at Think Progress : http://bit.ly/fhz7nA