In the United States at the moment, there’s a major controversy over Oklahoma Republican state legislator,who made the following remarks to a group of fundamentalist Christians. It should be noted that Rep. Kern is married to a (fundamentalist) Southern Baptist minister, and is herself a Southern Baptist:
“Studies show that no society that has totally embraced homosexuality has lasted more than, you know, a few decades. So it’s the death knell of this country. I honestly think it’s the biggest threat our nation has, even more so than terrorism or Islam — which I think is a big threat, OK? Cause what’s happening now is they are going after, in schools, two-year olds…And this stuff is deadly, and it’s spreading, and it will destroy our young people, it will destroy this nation.”
Kern found herself under fire after one US LGBT rights organisation, the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund, posted the above diatribe on Youtube. She has refused to apologise for her incendiary, homophobic remarks: “I said nothing that was not true” and refused to apologize to either Oklahoma’s LGBT community, or to upset relatives of those who had lost family members due to right-wing terrorist Timothy McVey’s attack on a federal building in Oklahoma City during the mid-nineties.
Kern was applauded by fellow Oklahoma Republican legislators at a private caucus meeting. In response to Kern’s comments, there was an LGBT rights rally at the Oklahoma state legislature building on March 18.
In some fundamentalist and social conservative media outlets, Kern has claimed to have received death threats which caused her to retain personal protection against possible attackers. If this is true, I am sure that most LGBT Oklahomans and Americans would deplore the situation, given how many times that we ourselves have been subjected to hate crimes provoked precisely by her sort of rhetoric. Harrassment and threats of violence against anyone should never be countenanced.
However, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation has reviewed Kern’s emails and one responsible official said: ”I wouldn’t characterize them as death threats.” Kern is being represented by the conservative Catholic, antigay Thomas More Law Centre on this issue, and responded that [Kern] “has received over 27,000 vulgar, hate filled e-mails, her life has been threatened, her son falsely accused of being a homosexual and her financial supporters contacted and asked to no longer support her.” Moreover, TMLC also alleges that ”a leading homosexual activist entered her husband’s church last Sunday and took notes on her husband’s sermon.”
Kern has also alienated families of victims of the Oklahoma City terrorist bombing. One horrified teenager who lost his mother at that time expressed outrage at Kern’s comments: “Your harsh words and misguided beliefs brought me to tears, because you told me that my mother’s killer was a better person than a group of people that are seeking safety and tolerance for themselves.”
Reference: Sally Kern’s original message is shown below…
2 responses so far ↓
1 James Nimmo // Mar 30, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Why do you yell fire in a crowded theater?
— an open letter to Rep. Sally Kern
sallykern@okhouse.gov
Mrs. Kern:
I’ve just listened to the 20-minute interview you had with OKC’s channel 9 in regard to the public speech you made sometime after the first of the year deriding and demeaning Oklahoma’s gay/lesbian taxpaying citizens.
The real danger is not whether being gay/lesbian is more of a threat than terrorism or the Islamic religion. I think the real danger is you as a legislator standing on the soapbox paid for by the taxpayer and denouncing honest, hardworking Oklahomans as inferior to you and your acquaintances.
You keep referring to the home, the family, and traditional marriage as being threatened by gay people who want the same things for their families that you already have. Do you feel there is a shortage of love and commitment and it must be rationed to only people who act and think as you do?
Why are you not introducing bills that would eliminate divorce? Divorce is the opposite of marriage and frequently causes distress to children yet what are you doing about this refutation of traditional marriage?
You couch your diatribes in terms of the First Amendment guarantee of free speech but you fail to back them up with specific references to peer-reviewed studies or professionally-qualified experts.
I feel this is the equivalent of yelling fire in a crowded theater.
Yes, you can say these things, but as a legislator you owe to your constituents as well as those hearing you to base your remarks on facts and not your superstitions.
James Nimmo
Oklahoma City, OK
2 James Nimmo // Oct 14, 2008 at 10:27 am
Noted Homo-Hater, Sally Kern, Declared Honorary Gay/Lesbian Person
by James Nimmo
(OKLAHOMA CITY) To commemorate National Coming Out Day on Saturday, October 11, 2008, I am exercising my gay genetic heritage and declaring Rep. Sally Kern of Oklahoma an honorary gay/lesbian person in recognition of the fine work she has done to keep our community’s issues in the forefront of media attention, both here in Oklahoma and nationwide.
In a country turned upside down by religious and financial turmoil I feel that it is important to keep our American values straight and forthright. Her latest pronouncements have illustrated the debt our gay brothers and sisters owe to her. http://tinyurl.com/3qenfk and http://tinyurl.com/4jjsdz
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RESOLUTION
Where as: Mrs. Kern has defended the 2nd Amendment right to bear arms by exercising civil disobedience in carrying a gun twice into the State Capitol in Oklahoma City http://tinyurl.com/5vfh7v
Where as: Mrs. Kern has shown us how to defend the 1st Amendment by her attempt to remove gay-supportive books from public libraries http://newsok.com/article/2934605
Where as: Mrs. Kern has demonstrated her profound patriotism by diverting the public’s attention away from terrorism and towards gay/lesbian equality http://tinyurl.com/6ggxu6
Where as: Mrs. Kern has helped populate our ranks with new members http://tinyurl.com/34gg3d
Where as: Mrs. Kern has directed media attention towards the inequalities of living openly as a gay man or woman in the USA http://tinyurl.com/4gy4yb
Where as: Mrs. Kern has helped educate parents and legislators about gays and lesbians with her P-FLAG interview http://tinyurl.com/484bax
Be it resolved that: Mrs Sally Kern, Republican legislator in House District 84, in the State of Oklahoma, be recognized as an honorary gay/lesbian person for the rest of her God-given natural life, and
Be it further resolved that: Donations honoring this life-time achievement of Mrs. Kern be made to the campaign of Ron Marlett, her Democratic opponent http://www.actblue.com/contribute/entity/21047
Be it finally resolved that: Congratulatory messages can be sent to Rep. Kern at sallykern@okhouse.gov , 405-557-7348, or 2713 Sterling Ave. Oklahoma City, OK 73127
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