The Family Leadership Summit does not speak for all families

On Saturday, August 10, anti-equality group The Family Leader will host its second annual “Family Leadership Summit” at Stephens Auditorium in Ames. Led by The Family Leader’s president and CEO Bob Vander Plaats, the summit “is designed to educate and mobilize the conservative base regarding worldview application and issues that impact the family.”

The summit’s speakers include 2012 presidential candidate Rick Santorum, Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and his father Rafael Cruz, and businessman and TV personality Donald Trump, among others. Governor Terry Branstad is also scheduled to speak at the summit in the afternoon. 

The event is bankrolled in part by the National Organization for Marriage, an organization that the Iowa ethics board just voted to investigate for violations of state law during the judicial retention campaign. Both the Family Leader and the National Organization for Marriage have had a history of attempting to roll back crucial gains in Iowa for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, particularly in regards to marriage equality.

Believe it or not, I will be attending the Family Leadership Summit tomorrow as Executive Director of One Iowa. While Mr. Vander Plaats and the Family Leader have a long tradition of using loving, committed gay and lesbian couples and their families to create a political wedge here in Iowa, it is my hope that we will find some common ground at tomorrow's summit.

The line-up of speakers is especially challenging, however. During his presidential campaign, Mr. Santorum repeatedly denigrated LGBT families and in 2012, he stated that all same-sex marriages would be ‘invalid’ if he were elected president. Senator Cruz claims that marriage equality will lead to pastors being forced to marry gay and lesbian couples against their will, despite the fact that marriage rulings like Iowa’s Varnum v. Brien actually strengthen religious liberty by stating that no denomination need marry gay or lesbian couples if contrary to its religious doctrines. As for Mr. Trump--is he really setting the example that Mr. Vander Plaats would like to see in Iowa families?

It is our sincere hope that Mr. Vander Plaats and the Family Leader will once and for all stop using LGBT families as a divisive political wedge. We hope the discussions at the Family Leadership Summit will be civil and respectful. I look forward to learning more about the speakers and having conversations with other attendees about a number of issues, including why LGBT equality in Iowa is so important to me and to families like mine.

In addition, Mr. Vander Plaats has stated in no uncertain terms that marriage equality in Iowa--which we’ve had for over four years now--has had no effect on his marriage to his wife. Perhaps this signals that he, and others, are ready to move beyond their struggle against equality and toward an Iowa that is inclusive and rich in diversity.