Iowa's State Supreme Court issued a ruling in 2009 legalizing same-sex marriage. A year later, state departments and agencies are still in the process of adjusting rules and policies to reflect the fact that same-sex married relationships are just as valid as heterosexual married relationships.

One such state department reviewing their policies is the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, which is prepared to change a camping policy this summer to allow LGBT families access to state designated family campgrounds. Sounds reasonable, right? After all, campgrounds shouldn't be segregated so that straight families and gay families are kept apart.

But there's one Iowa legislator -- State Senator Merlin Bartz -- who is trying to block the rule change, because he does not want state agencies giving gay and lesbian couples "new benefits," in his words. But this is hardly a new benefit. This is a small change intended to make sure that all of Iowa's state parks are adhering to Iowa's State Law.

Instead, Senator Merlin Bartz is trying to politicize the issue of camping, just to sound off about gay marriage.

Tell members of the Iowa State Legislature, specifically those who will decide on the state park's camping policy, that there's no place for politics in camping. This is simply a small measure to make sure LGBT families are treated with the same dignity (not "new" or "special" dignity) that straight families receive.