You can file Sally Kern under “The
hateful things people say.” A
secretly recorded Oklahoma state representative Sally Kern speech was
released on YouTube by The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund this week. In the speech, given to a group of
50 of so Republicans, she makes it clear that she's no friend to
gays. Much more on Sally Kern after the update.
You'll find me in your kitchen
cooking-up eggs Benedict, waffles and Mimosas for your weekend
breakfast or in the backyard laying a bear trap at your back door.
Keep reading to find out which.
Idaho
Senator Larry Craig is back in the news as he continues to fight to
clean-up his name after being arrested in a Minnesota airport men's
room sex-sting in 2007. As
Bill is fond of saying, give me a break!
Openly
gay bishop Gene Robinson has decided to take the high road and refuse
to take part in an upcoming Anglican summit after church leaders
reduced his participation to next-to-nothing. For being gay, of course.
In Spain the temperatures are hot and
so are the politics. But this week the heat felt good as Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and his Socialist party won re-election. This in spite of the Catholic Church's heavy-handed campaign against the Socialists. Zapatero angered the church by
introducing liberal reforms to the country, including gay marriage
and divorce, in 2005.
Did you hear about hunky heartthrob, Baywatch star Jaason Simmons being gay? Good news and all, then you
read he's headed to Canada to marry Irish actor John O'Callaghan and
the happiness kinda fades. In all sincerity, I applaud Jaason for
his courage and wish the couple happiness.
I told you that, so I could tell you
this: Norway has introduced a bill granting full marriage equality, including adoption, to same-sex couples. If passed, the legislation
would replaced civil unions in the country of four million.
Here's a picture of John McCain freaking out on that extra 'a' in Jaason Simmons' name.
It was our own Gay Entertainment Report which brought us news that Showtime has decided to end its groundbreaking lesbian drama The L Word after season six in 2009. Jennifer Beals and Cybill Shepherd, good times I'll miss.
Sometimes it takes something so
shocking, so ACT-UP circa 1987, to wake-up this nation. Such is the
alarm found in Sally Kern's despicable anti-gay speech.
The speech which includes homophobic
remarks such as, “I honestly think it's [homosexuality] the biggest
threat our nation has, even more so than terrorism or Islam.” And,
“They [gay people] want to get our young children into the
government schools so that they can indoctrinate them... They're
going after our young children, as young as two years of age, to try
to teach them the homosexual lifestyle is an acceptable lifestyle.”
Despite
an overwhelming amount of emails (23,000 at her office alone)
condemning her views, a million hits on YouTube, and even death
threats, the Republican Oklahoma state representative stands by her
words. Worse, several fellow
Republicans are supporting her.
To reduce gay people to a threat worse
that terrorist is an attempt to dehumanize us and reduce us to a
single concept of evil. If the tag sticks, hatemongers use it to
justify gay related crimes, inequality, and perhaps even isolation.
Sally Kern's speech reminds us that the
fight for gay equality in America remains strongly opposed. Our foes
willing to stoop to malevolent lows to win.
Walter Weeks is a writer for On Top
Magazine and can be reached at ww@ontopmag.com.
The Gay Slant pops-in most Saturdays at
On Top Magazine.