Brody's Notes... Head Of Iowa Anti-Gay Family Leader Group Erupts In Laughter At Faggot Joke

Bob Vander Plaats

By Brody Levesque | WASHINGTON D. C. -- In a short video clip released by independent watch-dog group Think Progress Tuesday, the president of the homophobic conservative christian group- The Family Leader, is seen erupting in laughter as an attendee at a conference he was speaking at told a tasteless joke last March.

Bob Vander Plaats- a three-time failed Iowa gubernatorial candidate, in the name of his organisation issued a 14 point pledge that has stirred enormous controversy for its virulent ant-gay theme. The pledge seeks to solidify the organization’s reputation as the state’s conservative moral authority, and it reiterates many of the group’s extreme social views and anti-gay rhetoric.

GOP presidential hopefuls Michelle Bachmann and Rick Santorum who are on the record for their anti-gay views both signed the pledge, although more mainstream GOP contenders have steered clear of signing it as GOP operatives have stated the group and its president may be too extreme for Iowa Republicans, alienating moderate and independent voters alike.

Throughout the early primary process in Iowa, Vander Plaats, who was instrumental in assuring former republican Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee's victory in the Iowa primaries during the in 2008 presidential race, and ran the successful campaign to recall three Iowa state supreme court justices who had overturned Iowa’s anti same-sex marriage law infused with funding from contributors outside of Iowa- such as the National Organisation for Marriage and Focus on The Family — has sought to position himself as a gatekeeper to the conservative voters in the Iowa caucuses process.

Think Progress notes in a transcript of the video:

During an event in Audubon, Iowa in March of 2011, Vander Plaats explained that many Iowans were concerned about the state becoming “the butt of jokes” in the aftermath of a state Supreme Court decision which found that a law prohibiting same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. He was then interrupted by an attendee who recalled a joke his wife tells about the “fags” marrying in Iowa law. Vander Plaats erupts in laughter:

ATTENDEE: You know what my wife says? She says: Iowa, the state where you can’t smoke a fag, but you can marry one.

[Laughter]

VANDER PLAATS: Oh shoot, that’s pretty good, that’s pretty good. Oh shoot.

(Vander Plaats’ reaction is not entirely surprising, since the group has previously compared homosexuality to the cancerous effects of second-hand smoking and links supporters to ex-gay reparative therapy.)