As Goes Iowa:The Family Leader, Religious Politics and 2012
by Andy Kopsa
America’s culture wars are at full throttle: defunding Planned Parenthood, chipping away at a woman’s right to an abortion – and if possible taking away that right altogether, preventing or ending gay marriage (because it could lead to Sharia law), enacting Religious Freedom Restoration Acts to “restore religious liberty” that was never lost. State after state after state serves as a front on which the Christian Right and their willing Republican legislators wage these wars. Iowa is a perfect microcosm, an example of the powerful Christian Political Action Committees (PACs) leading the effort. Iowa’s powerful and successful The Family Leader is a model to which all others can be held.
The Iowa Family Policy Center (IFPC), which recently changed its name to The Family Leader*, is the most vocal and political anti-gay organization in Iowa. As a federally funded chapter of the Family Research Council (FRC), IFPC railed against gay marriage leading up to the 2009 Iowa Supreme Court decision granting marriage equality for same sex couples. They started the “LUV Iowa” (Let Us Vote) Campaign to bring a Proposition 8-like ballot initiative to the state. They sent lobbyists to the state capital and held ‘pro-family’ rallies. Continue Reading →