Today, former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty (R) will address the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the annual DC gathering of political activists and potential Republican presidential hopefuls. On Monday, this moderate Republican governor from a heavily Democratic state was brandishing his conservative credentials by appearing at a Presidential Lecture Series in Iowa sponsored by The Family Leader. That group is a “Christ-centered organization” which “champions the principle that God is the ultimate leader of the family” and is leading the campaign to repeal marriage equality in the state. The organization’s president, Bob Vander Plaats, is a former high school principal and failed gubernatorial candidate who recently led a successful campaign to unseat three of Iowa Supreme Court Justices for overturning the state’s marriage discrimination law. Vander Plaats has since embarked on a 99-county tour of Iowa in which he presents The Family Leader as a traditional religious group that is more interested in restoring biblical values than slandering gay people. But the group’s materials describe homosexuality as a public health crisis akin to smoking, and endorse scientifically discredited ex-gay reversal therapies.
PAWLENTY ON DON’T ASK, DON’T TELL: Last month, Pawlenty made waves when he suggested that he would reinstate the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) policy if elected President. At the Family Leader forum, Pawlenty went a step further, saying that he would support rescinding the funds necessary for the Department of Defense to implement a repeal of DADT. In response to a question from ThinkProgress, Pawlenty reiterated his argument for why the policy should not have been repealed and then, when pushed, agreed that taking away the funding “would be a reasonable step.” In a separate, recent interview with ThinkProgress, Pawlenty refused to say whether gays should be allowed to serve in the military at all, explaining, “I really defer to the military leaders to a large degree on this issue. I supported maintaining Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” Pressed again on whether he would be “comfortable with gays being able to serve in the military as long as they aren’t public with their orientation,” Pawlenty wouldn’t answer, saying, “I really would defer to the military leaders and military more broadly.”
PAWLENTY’S FAITH: During the forum — which featured three separate stops across the state — Pawlenty repeatedly emphasized his Evangelical Christian faith, even going so far as to suggest that his opposition to expanding marriage to gays and lesbians was a “universal” value that was “embedded in our culture.” Asked by a reporter if it was “appropriate for policy to be driven by values that are not necessarily shared by everyone, yet have a very significant effect on everyone,” Pawlenty said that he was respectful of different beliefs, before insisting that his values are universal and that “we’re going to make sure we respect traditional marriage.” But Pawlenty hasn’t always been this convinced of the righteousness of his anti-gay beliefs. In 1993, Pawlenty, then a state legislator, voted to extend protection to gays and lesbians under the state Human Rights Act, effectively banning discrimination in housing and employment based on sexual orientation as well as race, religion, ethnicity and physical or mental disability. By 2002, he expressed regret for the vote, but a year later, suggested that nobody should be discriminated against for a job or housing simply because they are gay. In 2009, however, Pawlenty told Newsweek’s Howard Fineman that the 1993 act was “overbaked” and “not worded the way it should be” because it protected cross-dressers “and a variety of other people involved in behaviors that weren’t based on sexual orientation.”
PRESERVING ‘TRADITIONAL’ MARRIAGE: While Pawlenty did not directly address Iowa’s ongoing legislative effort to rescind marriage for gay and lesbian couples, he repeatedly reiterated his support for “traditional marriage” and “values.” Iowa Republicans were more direct about taking away rights from gays and lesbians. Following the Presidential Lecture Series, ThinkProgress spoke with Iowa State Rep. Dwayne Alons (R) — a co-sponsor of Iowa’s anti-gay marriage equality bill — in the state capitol and asked him if he agreed with the Family Leader’s characterizations of homosexuality as a public health crisis. 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 correct “problems to society.” “Well, look at all that has been spent, you know, with the AIDS and with the issues related to the dying at an early age. I think life, longevity, of a lot of these folks is below 50, when you know, the normal people that do not enter into that kind of relationship, they’re either late into their 70s or early 80s for longevity,” Alons said. “A lot more actual productive years and contributing to society.” The story, which was picked up by KTIV News Channel 4, has sparked some controversy for Alons, who has chosen to stand by his remarks rather than to apologize for them.
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