Does a Bartz Throw A Fit in the Woods?

Warning, Iowa campers. Be on the lookout this summer for a nosy state senator checking tents.

From Radio Iowa:

A state senator who opposes gay marriage is asking questions about plans to change a camping rule in the state park system.

What a corageous stand against multiple tents for gay couples. I bet the Iowa Family Policy Center will give him some sort of medal.

Just over a year ago the Iowa Supreme Court issued a ruling which legalized gay marriage in Iowa. Senator Merlin Bartz, a Republican from Grafton, says it appears to him that the Department of Natural Resources wants to make gay couples eligible for family camping at state parks. “They're citing the Supreme Court case and changing, you know, ‘husband and wife' language to 'spouse,'” Bartz says.

The rates or fees for camp sites are the same, whether you're a family or a non-family, but the state allows families to put up more than one tent on a camp site. “They're changing their language even though the state legislature has not had a debate on this particular issue,” Bartz says.