Kern says views miscast

Rep. Sally Kern said Friday she won't meet again with members of a group supporting gay and lesbian rights, because the organization misstated her views.

Both sides described a Thursday meeting between Kern and the Oklahoma City chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays as cordial and polite.

The group met with Kern on Thursday in her state Capitol office to discuss comments the lawmaker made to an Oklahoma City Republican club, stating that the gay and lesbian community is a cancer destroying the nation, and homosexuality is "the biggest threat our nation has, even more so than terrorism or Islam.”

Kern, R-Oklahoma City, said the group's members "have taken my statements and have spun them to make it appear that I am backing off my comments that homosexuality is a sin. As a Christian who believes in the authority of God's word, I will never retract my comments that homosexuality is a sin.”

As a result, Kern, who said Thursday night she might consider meeting again with the group, said Friday she wouldn't.

"I see no benefit in having future meetings with them,” she said.

The Rev. Loyce Newton-Edwards,president of the Oklahoma City chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, who met with Kern on Thursday, said she disagreed with Kern's reaction.

"I absolutely would not take anything she said out of context or misquote her,” said Newton-Edwards, associate pastor of the Open Arms United Church of Christ.

"That would not be in our best interest and I do have personal integrity. PFLAG has personal integrity.”

Newton-Edwards said her group didn't go into Thursday's meeting to debate whether homosexually is a sin "because she wasn't going to move and we weren't going to move.”

Newton-Edwards said Thursday she no longer is asking Kern to resign if she doesn't apologize for her earlier comments. She had made that request during a rally last week at the Capitol criticizing her anti-gay comments.

A rally in support of Kern is scheduled for noon Wednesday at the Capitol.

The Washington-based Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays issued a news release after Thursday's meeting with Kern.

In that release, there was no mention of Kern backing off her views as homosexuality. It said that Kern "did not express an apology ... nor did she back away from any of her earlier comments.”

In the news release, Jody M. Huckaby, executive director of