Thursday, March 13, 2008

Homophobe Sally Kern Owes Gays an Apology

Remember when your parents taught you the saying "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me"? And remember when you found out that it isn't quite true, that words do hurt and sometimes they cut deeply?

The homosexual population in the nation is still reeling from Oklahoma Representative Sally Kern's remarks last week. She called homosexuals "worse than terrorists" and claimed that 'Mo's are targeting two year olds in schools. For what? Improper Garanimal-izing of their outfit that day?

The woman believes that as a nation we have less to fear from religious zealot terrorists than we do from homosexuals. Apparently our nation is headed for destruction because Sally says that historically, societies that embrace homosexuality only last for a few decades. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the first steps toward becoming an embraced part of American society started in 1969. We now have gay celebs, lauded homo musicians, even *gasp* political leaders with same sex partners. Get to the bomb shelter, Bessie, the world is a'ending! I mean, really, Sally Kern is a fine upstanding church going woman, she wouldn't spout out lies and encourage fear and hatred, would she? After all, she is a Baptist!

I would be okay with Kern if she had just said "I don't believe it is morally right for two people of the same sex to have a physical, romantic relationship". We are all entitled to our own opinion. But she didn't do that. She just blasted away with untruths passed off as gospel.

I can't help but take Kern's words personally. It was in her hometown of Oklahoma City that I experienced gaybashing. If you've never run from a pickup truck full of drunk rednecks screaming "Ahm gonna git you, faggot!" then you've obviously never patronized gay bars in OKC. The gay community treated it as if it were a game, you know, how many times can you outrun the homophobes in a single weekend? But honestly, there were nights I thought they'd catch us and those baseball bats and swinging chains were mighty scary.

I emailed a letter to Sally Kern but have had no response. I sent it to her office, where I'm certain an aide is in control of sifting through her email. I heard she's had death threats, which is ridiculous. She doesn't need to die. She needs to learn. To grow. To move beyond her baseless hatred and beyond the lies she is clinging to as truth. Oh, yes, she did respond to the negative press and stated that she never said anything untrue. Because homos target 2 year olds and are a larger threat than Al Qaeda. She is embracing her own destructive reality, one that encourages others to believe that gays are second class citizens and evil creatures. She's sending a message to those rednecks I ran from that says loud and clear they are doing the right thing, crushing the homosexual threat.

If you'd like to email Sally Kern, her office address is sallykern@okhouse.gov.

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