Gard and the God Gang -- UPDATE

So now Speaker John Gard wants the Legislature to intervene in the ACLU lawsuit which seeks to require the state to provide health benefits to domestic partners of state employees -- something many governments and private business do all across the country. (I know the city of Milwaukee does, for one, and I have to assume Madison does, for starters.)

Gard's rationale: If the state loses the suit it will cost money. Of course it will. Sometimes it costs money to do the right thing.

Isn't it enough that the state has refused to grant those benefits, and has to be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st Century by the ACLU?

For the Legislature to go to court and oppose this effort to achieve simple justice for domestic partners is tantamount to a hate crime.

If the state loses the lawsuit, maybe Gard and the God Gang could incorporate a ban on domestic partner benefits into their unnecessary, politically-driven constitutional amendment to ban gay marriages. That could be Count 2 in the hate crime indictment.

Gard's somewhat incoherent statement.

UPDATE. State Rep. Mark Pocan enters the fray, with a release saying the group Gard wants to represent the Legislature, the Alliance Defense Fund, is the same lunatic fringe group that has attacked SpongeBob SquarePants as being gay.

Pocan adds: "John Gard is obsessed with gays and lesbians. I know of few people who so regularly think about sex." Pocan's release.

YET ANOTHER UPDATE: I am told that Action Wisconsin, the group working to stop the amendment, believes language in the amendment could lead to lawsuits that end up banning domestic partner benefits as well. Action Wisconsin info.