Although anti-gay speech is a depressingly common element of U.S. political discourse, rarely does one hear the pure poison recently spewed by Oklahoma State Representative Sally Kern in a YouTube video now circulating on the Internet with astonishing speed.

 

Unaware that her remarks to 50 supporters were being taped, Rep. Kern offers a shocking anti-gay tirade in which she asserts that homosexuality is "the biggest threat that our nation has, even more so than terrorism or Islam." She adds, "No society that has totally embraced homosexuality has lasted more than, you know, a few decades."  

While Rep. Kern rants, fellow members of the Oklahoma state legislature seem unwilling to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender citizens. Oklahoma is one of 17 states whose hate crimes laws do not encompass sexual orientation and gender identity & expression. Despite last fall's senseless murder of Steven Domer, a 62 year-old gay man killed by Aryan supremacists in Oklahoma City, it is highly likely that the legislature will kill four bills that propose to amend the state hate crimes statute.

Let Rep. Kern and her colleagues know that hate speech is dangerous, that such words create a climate where physical assaults and killings are more likely, that it is abhorrent for a public official to use her authority to discriminate and defame law-abiding, contributing citizens.

 

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Call or write your legislator (remember phone calls and handwritten letters are far more effective than email) and share your outrage at Rep. Kern's remarks. Urge them to demand that revision of Oklahoma's hate crimes law be considered by the full legislature.

 

To find your legislator, search here.

 
Contact Rep. Kern:

Capitol Address
2300 N. Lincoln Blvd. Room 332
Oklahoma City, OK 73105

Phone: (405) 557-7348

Email: sallykern@okhouse.gov