Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
Both homosexual sex and intravenous drug use are “lethal forms of behavior,” and since one is illegal, the other should be as well, according to Bryan Fischer, director of issue analysis for government and public policy for the American Family Association.
Fischer’s group, which is based in Mississippi, was a major donor to the campaign to oust three Iowa Supreme Court justices over the unanimous 2009 ruling that ultimately legalized same-sex marriage. The group completely bankrolled the Iowa for Freedom campaign, which was led by former gubernatorial hopeful Bob Vander Plaats. Last month, Fischer’s comments about the “feminization” of the Medal of Honor caused several veterans to join with the state’s largest LGBT-rights organization to call for Vander Plaats to publicly denounce Fischer, something he ultimately refused to do.
Fischer’s latest comments come in response to the news that Derrick Burts, an adult film star who tested positive for HIV, is now advocating for mandatory condom use in porn productions.
Homosexual sex should be just as against the law as injection drug use is. They represent the two leading modes of transmission for HIV/AIDS, and our policy toward one should be the same as our policy toward the other.
Fischer goes on to argue that if society can force adult film stars to use condoms, then the same law should apply to all homosexual acts.
Now I see no reason why we should stop here. After all, if unprotected gay sex is the problem, then the problem is gay sex. Ultimately we need to get to appropriate sanctions for the act itself. After all, condoms break or don’t get used at all in the heat of the moment. But beginning with sanctions for unprotected gay sex is a place to start.
Fischer’s argument is similar to one made shortly before the judicial retention election by the Iowa Family Policy Center’s Chuck Hurley. At a rally in Carroll, Hurley told The Iowa Independent that ever culture “should have safe and sane laws regarding sexuality.”
Since election day, Hurley’s organization has transformed into The Family Leader, an umbrella group that is led by Vander Plaats. The Family Leader’s list of “issues we care about” includes opposing “distortions of sexuality or special rights to those practicing distorted sexual behavior.”
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