Yeah, I know, I said I was going to post U-Haul vs The Long Haul this week, but then I heard this clip of a speech by Sally Kern, (R) Rep Oklahoma, and it really hit a nerve. She thought she was speaking to 50 people, I have a hard time imaging that anyone would think these things were OK to say even to one person, but thanks to the internet, it turns out that now she's speaking to the world. And the world is listening.

I was so dumbfounded by this speech that I'm not even sure which quote of hers I found most offensive. Right off the bat, she starts with the zingers, "the homosexual agenda is destroying this nation. OK. It's just a fact." Really? That's a fact? I mean I didn't even realize that I had an agenda, let alone that I was involved with all the other gays in a mass conspiracy to destroy the nation. Silly me, I really thought that perhaps the widening of the poverty gap was destroying our nation. Or maybe our failing education system. Or the divorce rate. Or gang culture. Or the fight over illegal immigrants. Or the war on drugs. Or the rift in the country over the war in Iraq. Or the credit crisis. Or the rising cost of damn near everything, thanks to the rising price of oil. Just to name a few things that I think are destroying the nation.

RSG who writes at Recovering Straight Girl wrote

We don’t have an Agenda or a Lifestyle. Rock stars have “lifestyles,” high society politicians have “lifestyles,” The Queen has a “lifestyle.”

We have A Life.

We go to work, we go to school, we attend our kids’ school concerts and soccer games, we take care of our home, we go to The Grand Canyon on vacation, we do all of the typical things that every other American Family does on a daily basis. We volunteer, we contribute to charity, we pay taxes, and we VOTE. I fail to see how our Life is Dangerous?

Read the full post My Letter to Sally Kern-

Kern goes on to say, "I'm not anti, I'm not gay bashing. But according to God's word that is not the right kind of lifestyle." God's word? Shall we talk about who it is with an agenda? Her god may not think homosexuality is a right lifestyle, but what bearing should that have on my civil rights. Last time I checked, I do still have the right to exercise my brand of religion, or lack there of, and my god is just fine with me being gay. So just where do her rights end, and mine begin?

Shelly who writes at Pack of Two wrote

Since you are such a know it all on the bible, I hope you haven’t been eating shrimp or wearing blend fabrics or you will be joining all the scary gay people in hell. You should step up your wardrobe a bit though, those gay folks can be snappy dressers. You don’t want them showing you up in hell cause that would just be embarrassing.
Read the full post Letter I sent to Sally Kern (R) OK on her "statement"

Also, I'm not sure how Sally thinks her statements can be construed as anything other then anti-gay. Um hello. Can you hear yourself Sally? "Gays are infiltrating our city councils [...] Have you heard that the city of Eureka Springs is now controlled by gays?" Or what about, "What's happening now is they're going after, in schools. Two year olds. You know why they are trying to get early childhood education? They want to get our young children into government schools so they can indoctrinate them [...] to get them to think that the homosexual lifestyle is an acceptable lifestyle." Do those statements sound positive to anyone? In fact they sound a little conspiracy theory to me. And why is she so worried about people being accepting of difference. Is she afraid it's like a gateway to believing in evolution.

Perhaps the most inflammatory statement she made, and you had to know it was coming, was when she said, "I honestly think it's the biggest threat our nation has, even more than terrorism or Islam. Which I think is a big threat. OK." Wow, she's compares gay people to terrorists and maligns the world's 2nd largest religion in fell statement. She can't even be serious here. That's just crazy talk. Why would we, the gay population, want to destroy the society we live in? That is the implication of using the word terrorism here, that we wish to incite fear in order to destroy our society. It just doesn't even make sense. We are just like everyone else. We want the same things in life as every other American. And we want the same rights everyone else has. We're not looking turn everyone gay, or anyone for that matter. I fail to see how this equates to terrorism. If the thought of my partner and I having a life together makes her live in constant state of fear such that it alters her daily life, as she implies, then she's got some big problems. Is she so insecure in her own sexuality that only one brand of it can exist?

Sally Kern refuses to apologize for her speech. She has issued a statement in which she says, "a vigorous debate on an issue is not 'hate speech' - it's free speech. " I think Dr Bruce Perscott's, who writes at Mainstream Baptist, posted a fantastic exercise about her assertion that she need not apologize. He pulled a quote from her speech and first changed the word homosexuals to Jews. He figured that still might not have much impact, so then he changed it the word homosexual to Christian.

So, what if politically powerful politicians were saying:

Matter of fact, studies show that no society that has totally embraced Christianity has lasted more than, you know, a few decades. So it's the death nell to this country. I honestly think it's the biggest threat that our nation has -- even more so than terrorism, or Islam, which I think is a big threat, OK? Because what's happening now, they're going after, in schools, two year olds!

Can anyone imagine a right-wing evangelical, sensitive to even the slightest hint of persecution, sitting still for that?

Read full post Kern Refuses Apology,

While Betty Please and I were discussing this this morning, I said something to the effect of, "so I wonder what her big skeleton is. You know she has one. They always do. Some big gay skeleton I bet." I later found that Sally just might have a gay son, who she has of course disowned. I'm just wondering how she allowed her son to be indoctrinated by the gays. Must have been because she hadn't passed that bill, so the school never notified her that her son was in the gay-straight alliance. Cause you know, "kids are getting involved in these groups, their lives are being ruined, their parents don't know about it..."

I certainly hope she doesn't truly represent the people of Oklahoma.

Other blogger reactions
Pam, of Pam's House Blend, has several good posts on this topic, but Sally Kern's bigoted cheering squad of fellow legislators covers quite a bit.
Lachlan, of My So-Called Blog, posted Sally Kern Says I'm Worse Than a Terrorist, which later prompted this little exchange, Behind the Scenes, as reported by Bayou, of A Perfect Anomaly
LeLo, of LeLo in NoPo, posted Congratulations Oregon! Oklahoma has Sally Kern, and we have Senator Gary George