Last night, conservative activists were scheduled to gather in Des Moines for a rally.

They weren’t protesting the World Trade Organization or President Clinton’s spending plans.

They were protesting gay rights — rights of homosexuals who work in Iowa governmental agencies.

Republican presidential candidate Gary Bauer and former Green Bay Packer linebacker Reggie White joined local conservatives in a rally against a recent executive order by Gov. Tom Vilsack.

The order didn’t provide for special privileges for homosexuals in Iowa. It didn’t affirm gay marriages or anything as “extreme” as that.

Instead, the order prohibited discrimination by state agencies based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Whoa. Hold on there, Vilsack.

You mean to say gays and lesbians should be treated just the same as everyone else?

Next thing you know, those crazy liberals in Des Moines will be trying to give women and minorities “equal rights,” too.

Bill Horn, of Altoona’s Straight From The Heart Ministries, said Monday that Vilsack’s executive order “is a big political payoff to the governor’s transvestite and cross-dresser supporters, and I am shocked that this small group of people should have so much influence over the governor of the state of Iowa,” according to The Des Moines Register.

OK. Let’s recap.

Iowa has a politically powerful transvestite and cross-dressing population, and the governor’s order that those people should be allowed to get jobs is shameless pandering.

What?

There can be no doubt that a significant segment of the population thinks homosexuality is wrong — especially Christian conservatives.

But believing homosexuality is a sinful “lifestyle” does not give anyone the right to discriminate against gays and lesbians in the workplace.

A homosexual “lifestyle” does not preclude someone from doing his or her job. And the state government, with its profession of nondiscrimination, should lead the way in promoting that attitude.

But Bauer doesn’t think so. According to the Register, he thinks this order is “imposing a set of values” on the state.

If that set of values is an attitude of staying out of people’s personal lives and refusing to judge anyone — straight or gay — who wants to work in the government, Bauer’s right.

Why he’s protesting them is anyone’s guess.

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Iowa State Daily Editorial Board: Sara Ziegler, Greg Jerrett, Kate Kompas and Carrie Tett.