Again from the in box, Janelle Rettig:
Lt. Governor Sally Pederson called me this afternoon. It was a conference call with Pederson, Mike Milligan (Ex. Dir. IDP), Kim Painter (Johnson County Recorder), and myself.
Pederson said that she had seen the mailing, she didn't find it offensive, felt the party (or anyone for that matter) had nothing to apologize for. She was unwilling to consider that having a mailing with the headlines "Davitt Supports Traditional Marriage" followed by "protecting Children for Sexual Predators" was at all demonizing to gay and lesbian people.
She did promise to look into it more, but I was not left with much hope that she considered this important. There was a lot said but no action and no accountability.
I did ask Pederson what she thought tied the four bold headlines together:
Davitt Supports Traditional Marriage
Teaching Character Education
Protecting Children from Sexual Predators
Keeping Children Away form Adult Material
She responded that what tied it together was values.
My problem with the mailing is twofold:
1) The IDP paid for a mailing that goes against its own platform.
2) By including something about marriage for same-sex couples in the same mailing, same page directly above "Sexual Predators" the mailing ties in the reader's mind the two issues together. The fallacy that gay people are more likely to be child molesters is a deep-rooted fear that some people hold. This mailing feeds those fears. Intentional or not this is a very damaging mailing.
I'm sure some of my friends will be mad that I'm sharing this criticism of my party four days before an election. But leaders need to lead, even in the face of misguided public opinion. And if bigotry is wrong, it's just wrong. And it's even more wrong when the very people who are supposed to stand for equality instead take cheap shots.
And it's wrong that Kim Painter can hand out the marriage licenses in Johnson County, but she and her partner can't get one.
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