Sally Kern – She’s back

In 2008, Oklahoma state Rep. Sally Kern said homosexuality is “the biggest threat our nation has, even more so than terrorism or Islam,” and called it a cancer that is “spreading” across America and “will destroy our young people.”

If she’s not infamous for that, and for saying that blacks “don’t work as hard” as white people, then she should go down in history this year for filing three of the most offensive, hateful anti-gay bills in the recent history of the country. And that, folks, is a pretty high hurdle because there have been some pretty bad laws proposed.

Kerns three bills attempt to stop gay marriage in Oklahoma by threatening the jobs of any public official who issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples; by saying that reparation therapy is a right, and that parents have the right to subject their minor children to this child abuse; and finally, a bill that allows anyone, for any reason, to discriminate against any LGBT person they encounter.

She has copied virtually every word of a Texas bill attempting to prevent gay marriage. In HB 1599 would not pay public employees who issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, taking away their pay and their pension. She would forbid the expenditure of public funds to enforce court rulings on marriage. She would interfere with the separation of the legislative and judicial branches by requiring courts to dismiss any challenge to her law, and if a judge had the temerity to ignore that, would remove the judge from office. She asserts the “sovereignty” of Oklahoma against any contrary federal court ruling.

It is a concept called nullification. We fought a Civil War and had an 1867 Supreme Court decision over the concept. Kern’s side lost.

Her second proposal creates a “right to seek and obtain counseling or conversion therapy from a mental health provider in order to control or end any unwanted sexual attraction.” According to HB 1598, she would allow parents to subject their minor children to this so-called “therapy.”

And in HB 1597, she would allow anybody, any organization,, or any business to discriminate against any LGBT person, organization or association.

Watch for details of these three bills, and others introduced in the Oklahoma legislature for its 2015 session, in the print issue of The Gayly, on newsstands on January 28.

by Rob Howard, Associate Editor

The Gayly – January 23, 2015 @ 2:30pm.