Rep. Sally Kern may not apologize for calling homosexuality the biggest threat facing America, but she said she may tone down the rhetoric.
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Kern made the comments Tuesday morning, but she did not attend a rally of about 300 people at the state Capitol calling upon her to apologize for calling homosexuality "the biggest threat our nation has, even more so than terrorism or Islam.”
Kern has acknowledged she said those words during a speech she gave earlier this year to a Republican club in Oklahoma City. She hasn't given any speeches since excerpts of her speech were posted on the YouTube Internet site, but she said she would talk again if asked about the strategy that backers of gay rights are using to defeat conservatives.
"The message of my speech would not change,” she said. "I might use different analogies.
"Just the fact that you're talking about an agenda that someone has does not mean that you hate them,” Kern said.
During the rally at the state Capitol, Rob Howard, executive director of the Cimarron Alliance Foundation, called on Kern to apologize.
"Hateful speech leads to hate crimes just as surely as the sun rises in the morning,” he said.
The Rev. Jim Shields, a retired United Methodist minister who lives in Kern's district that covers parts of west Oklahoma City and Bethany, called on the Republican legislator to hold meetings in the district to talk with gays and Muslims.
"Many of her statements are more for a crusade in a church than for her responsibilities with her publicly paid job of being fair, wise and reasonable in making laws for our state and the legislative district where we both live,” he said.
If Kern doesn't apologize or hold public discussions, then she should resign, said the Rev. Loyce Newton-Edwards, assistant pastor of the Open Arms United Church of Christ and president of the Oklahoma City chapter of PFLAG, which stands for Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays.
"If she does that, she shows good will and good faith; if she doesn't, we think she's ignoring us and we think that what she's done is just deplorable and she ought to resign as a public person,” Newton-Edwards said.
Kern would have no comment on the requests made of her during the rally until she has a chance to read written statements that were left at her office, Kern's legislative assistant said.
Kern was not in the Capitol while the 40-minute event during the noon hour took place in the first-floor rotunda. The House adjourned about 10 a.m. after a one-hour session; she, as did many House members, left a short time later.
No state representatives were seen at the rally. Sen. Constance Johnson, D-Oklahoma City, watched for a while from the second floor.
Asked in a telephone interview what she thought about the rally, Kern said: "I think it's great. They're exercising their First Amendment rights. I have no problem with it.”
YouTube clip provokes response
Someone taped a speech Kern made in January to a Republican club near downtown Oklahoma City and sent it to a national gay rights group. Kern said earlier that the speech was about 30 minutes; a segment of about three minutes was posted about 10 days ago on YouTube.
Since then, about 1 million people have played the comments, Howard said.
Kern's legislative assistant said Tuesday the legislator has received about 26,000 e-mails since her comments were posted on the Internet.
"The homosexual agenda is destroying this nation; it's just a fact,” Kern is heard saying on the YouTube clip.
Howard, with the Oklahoma City-based Cimarron Alliance Foundation, asked House Speaker Chris Benge to demand that Kern apologize and that the Legislature act on four comprehensive hate-crimes bills that failed to advance out of committee.
Benge, R-Tulsa, said last week he has no plans to punish Kern, saying Kern has a right to express her opinion.
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Paula, your are wrong. Our government was founded as a Christian government. ANY historian will verify that. Most of the problems of this country stem from the country as a whole drifting from our Christian roots. For those interested, there's a rally to SUPPORT Sally Kern at noon, on April 2nd on the 2nd floor of the State Capitol Bldg.
Let me modify something I said. I said I hate those who want to apply their religion and their interpretation of the bible to everyone in this country... I should not have used the word hate, as it goes against the values I try to hold for myself. It certainly frustrates me, knowing that our government is not and was not ever a "Christian" government, when people try to claim it was. But hate isn't the word I should have used.
Then who created gay people? Some scientist making clones we don't know about? According to your religion, god made everyone, so therefore he did make gay people. And I don't know how many times I need to say this before some people understand it, but here goes again. Practice your religion freely; this country allows and encourages it. But your religion is NOT the official religion of this country. The government of our country is SECULAR, NOT THEISTIC. I do not hate Christians. I hate those who want to apply their religion and their interpretation of the bible to everyone in this country, when by the very foundation of this country that is unconstitutional. As for west, a) the "gays" didn't rise up as a whole community send death threats. The vast majority of the people in the gay community didn't send death threats and would denounce those who did. What was the result of the investigation by the way? Were there any official threats found? The Tulsa World ran an article stating that the threats were unsubstantiated. As far as the "changed American flag" that wasn't an American flag. That was a gay pride flag with the stars of the 50 states on it. The American flag has 13 stripes, and they are red, white, and blue. The gay pride flag has 6 stripes and they are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. Just because a flag is similar to the U.S. flag doesn't mean it was a "changed" U.S. flag. If anything, it was a modified gay pride flag.
God does NOT create gay people - this is a choice that every person makes. To say that God made something totally opposite of what His Word says is ludicrous - homosexuality is an abomination, go read it for yourself in the Bible. I'm not judging, just stating fact. I love gay people, but I don't like their actions, just like I love drug addicts, but I don't like their actions. This is not judgmental - I do things that other people would find offensive too, but I do my best to follow what God tells me and if he spells it out in black and white, it's our responsibility to pay attention to it, which is why I go to church every week so that a pastor can tell me things that I didn't know about. God forgives everything, but ONLY when we accept it as wrong. Those of you defending this alternative lifestyle are the ones judging yourselves by your anger and hatred of Christians. I pray for all of you.
Hey john lets not be dogging christians especially with gandhi, he was no buddah either as much as he tried to be like whoever buddah was, give me a break. To call one's self a christian is to strive to be like him and not give up trying that what make us a better person, AND Debrah you have the wrong assesment of GOD or his nature, he is perfect and gays are not created by him, people are after that we become the choices that we make bottom line, people try to blame GOD for being gay is not right and without any understanding at all who and what God is.I don;t judge anyone but we as humans can;t help but do assess ourselves and others,the gays are judging Ms Kern and even sent death threats so now who is judging? Everyone does just some are more vocal that others and think their opinion matters more thats why they hold thier pointless rally with that changed American flag. What was up with that?
David, people aren't born to be murders,or criminals that is a learned process through whatever means that they have been subject too or by choice. I am sorry, if you thought that I said "GOD had made a mistake". I don't believe God makes mistakes, but Gay people are born Gay, it's not a choice as many uneducated folks want to believe. David, I am assuming from your name that you were born a male, is that a good judgement call on my part. David, GOD DOES NOT MAKE MISTAKES, but He does create Gay People". Just like he creates white, brown, black and tan, little boys and little girls that sometimes grow up to find that they are special in many different ways. By the way,Thank you JOHN for Gandhi's statement, it's so true. We have so many people casting judgements and they are not in the high authority to cast judgements but on themselves. As children we see the world as a big place with many different people, we learn to play and share with everyone, but sometimes as adults we become STUPID.
Mike, Norman … All you have given is Old Testament passages in reference to the Israeli government. Do you do this to trick the undiscerning? I don’t know if you have checked lately, but we’re now living in the New Testament era. Perhaps they didn’t teach you that in your religion schoolbooks. The New Testament does indeed proclaim that homosexuals and adulterers will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. It does not proclaim that we have to enforce the death penalty on those caught in adultery or homosexuals.
I do agree with you that the acceptance of homosexuality is here to stay. Yet it saddens me because I believe that to be a sign that God is letting America slip into total depravity. This is one of the main reasons why Christians fight against the homosexual agenda, because they do not want to believe that God is letting their country go.
As far as justifying hatred and fears with scripture, are you kidding? It’s easy to throw your arms around a homosexual and say that their lifestyle is AOK. That’s easy. It’s hard to stand for the truth, and inform homosexuals that their ways will damn them forever to hell. That’s hard to do. Hatred and Fear have no place in the Christian’s life and are never justified by scripture. We don’t hate or fear homosexuals; we merely want them to stop trying to influence our kids that homosexual behavior is AOK. It is not!
I'm from a very large family with unconditional love for each other. Just as with most of you, whether you admit it or not, we have a few family members that are gay. It's no big deal. They are in stable relationships and some have children. Growing up we were taught to respect different cultures, differing points of view and yes,sexuality. We were never taught to hate. Only hate can destroy. Reading through these hateful messages just makes me sad. I believe in the teachings of Christ, not the Old Testament. Period.
Richard, i'm just curious, but what school would your children have gone to if they were in public school. I ask because I went to Oklahoma Public Schools for 12 years (graduated high school in 2000) and i never had any gay activists approach me, nor did i have any gay literature given to me. Where are these schools that are indoctrinating school children?
My kids go to a Christian school because I'm tired of the gay activists targeting children. God wants us to be obedient to him, not tolerate inappropriate behavior.
My kids go to public school. I am sick and tired of them pushing their anti-gay, racist, fundamentalist agenda on to my kids. I teach them love and tolerance for all of God's children. I teach them to treat others as Jesus did. I think Sally Kern has it completely backwards.
Paula, you bring up a good point. Someone mentioned here a while back about certain books that 'promoted' homosexuality. I can think of one book that 'promoted' running away with a slave and then rafting down the Mississippi river naked. It's called Tom Sawyer and the last time people tried to ban that book, it was because of the use of the 'n' word. And if a child is old enough to read and comprehend the material that is being read, the child is old enough to understand a story from recruitment.
Rufus, do you encourage your children to beat up kids who are different from them? Do you encourage your children to be bullies? Do you advocate treating others disrespectfully? No one is handing out literature in the schools. The books that have been mentioned on this forum are simply to point out to kids that families aren't always a mom, a dad, and a kid. It's not in any way encouraging kids one way or the other; it's only to help prevent the bullying that often happens when kids find out others aren't exactly as they are. Do you think children of same-gendered couples are entitled to education the same as your children are? Do you think they should be bullied because they have 2 moms or 2 dads? You teach your children whatever you wish at home, but I think our schools should teach diversity rather than discrimination.
Well, we are a society that loves to play the blame game, so let’s just say for a hypothetical moment that homosexuality is a learned behavior, something someone can choose. Let’s say you’re a parent and your teenage son comes to you and tells you he is gay. First, that takes a lot of courage, trust, and confidence for a child to tell something like that to a parent. Trust me, been there done that. Second, who is to blame for the child’s new choice? TV? Movies? The Gays? Maybe it’s the parents. I always find it fascinating that when a concerned parent is worried their son or daughter might become a vicious gay monster, they never once mention the idea it could be the parents that could have caused the change. Think about it, when a child is very young and still learning basic concepts and ideas of life, the parents (or guardians) play a MAJOR role in development. Now could homosexuality arise from this? It’s possible. Could it be genetic? Possibly. But I digress from the main issue being discussed here.
Hey C from Choctaw. I earn a living wage and don't have an access card and i'm not white. I'm a just an anomaly? or did i just blow a hole in your racist rant?
Danielle, it's not a threat to society. Those who say it is are unable to provide any valid arguments against it other than religious issues, which may be valid for individuals but not for society as a whole.
I'm just trying to figure out how a person's sexuality is a threat to society. There are more important things we as a country should be worrying about.
Here is my question - if the meeting was so "private" how did this gay activist get in? Who's to say it's not an inside job? I mean come on, people. get over it already. It happened, it's over. There are much more pressing issues going on in the country that should be thought about rather than this, but that's just my opinion. Lets all get along.
The best way to know whether our country was founded on Christianity is to look to see what the people living at the time the Constitution was ratified thought about the situation. For example, a quick look at Article 11 of the Treaty of Peace and Friendship entered into with Tripoli (Liby) and ratified on June 10, 1797, states: "As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion . . . ." That takes care of that argument. Regarding enacting secular laws based on scripture (from any source), you who would support such a thing must be consistent in your application. If you want to criminalize homosexual behavior based on the bible, you must also support the death penalty for such things a stubborn and rebellious son (Deut. 22:18), adultry (Deut. 22:22), a man who rapes an engaged virgin in the city (both shall die) or a man who rapes an engaged virgin in the country (only the man shall die)(Deut. 22: 23-25) but if a man rapes a virgin who is not engaged, then the man must marry her and pay her dad 50 shekels of silver (Deut. 22:23-29). Of course, god also views as an "abomination" the wearing of wool and linen together (fashion nazi, obviously)(Deut. 22:11) and wants nothing to do with a man who has had an accident which castrated him (Deut. 23:1), nor a "bastard" and his descendants for 10 generations (wow!)(Deut. 23:2). It just keeps on going and going. So, stop picking those bible passages which justify your own hatreds and fears. It's all or nothing, baby! We are a secular society and there is simply no room for using bible passages to ratify and justify hate and intolerance. People are free to speak as they wish, but they are also responsible for the consequences. You voters in Kern's district know what to do at election time.
Candy, the gay activist snuck into a private meeting with conservative republicans, secretly recorded it and put it on you tube... Now explain, who started all this mess???
Oh, and there were many people attending on their lunch hour, Herb. Save your disdain for those who are truly hurting society; murderers, thieves, vandals, etc.
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About 300 people gather Tuesday at the state Capitol for a rally calling upon Rep. Sally Kern to apologize for her anti-gay remarks. The rally was organized by the Oklahoma City chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays. By Jaconna Aguirre, The Oklahoman
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-- Mahatma Gandhi
-- Mahatma Gandhi
I do agree with you that the acceptance of homosexuality is here to stay. Yet it saddens me because I believe that to be a sign that God is letting America slip into total depravity. This is one of the main reasons why Christians fight against the homosexual agenda, because they do not want to believe that God is letting their country go.
As far as justifying hatred and fears with scripture, are you kidding? It’s easy to throw your arms around a homosexual and say that their lifestyle is AOK. That’s easy. It’s hard to stand for the truth, and inform homosexuals that their ways will damn them forever to hell. That’s hard to do. Hatred and Fear have no place in the Christian’s life and are never justified by scripture. We don’t hate or fear homosexuals; we merely want them to stop trying to influence our kids that homosexual behavior is AOK. It is not!