If you’ve lived in Oklahoma very long you probably know who Sally Kern is. If you live outside of Oklahoma you might still know who she is. Since 2004 she has been the State Representative for District 84 and she is a Republican. Because of legislation she has proposed and statements she has made, mostly about the homosexual community, she has been vilified by the left and some on the right, mocked on national television programs, called every dirty and negative name you can think of, labeled a bigot by local media and targeted for reelection defeat by west coast liberals. She has also held true to her convictions, withstood the attacks and continued to propose bills that, in the words of blogger Michael Bates of Batesline, “are in support of the right to have an opinion and act on it, and against leftist fascism.”
For the 2015 legislative session she has filed eight bills, three of which have been labeled as “hate bills” by the LGBT community. House Bill 1597 would allow people and businesses to refuse to provide “services, accommodations, advantages, facilities, goods or privileges related to any lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender person, group or association.” The bill also protects those refusing to provide services from civil or criminal penalties. This bill is in response to the numerous instances around the nation of homosexuals filing discrimination complaints against businesses that refuse to provide services such as making a wedding cake for a homosexual wedding due to it being a violation of their religious convictions against same-sex marriage.
KOKH – “And (the owner) might say I’m sorry I can do this but I can’t do that,” Kern said. “So (homosexuals) then want to sue you because you won’t meet their demands. That’s not right.”
House Bill 1598 creates the Freedom to Obtain Conversion Therapy Act and insures that people can obtain therapy to end any unwanted sexual attraction and provides protection from state interference to parents who seek to obtain such therapy for children under eighteen years of age.
KOKH – “It’s a bill about freedom,” she said. “Why shouldn’t a parent have the freedom to take their child who’s struggling with same-sex attraction which we’re having more and more of today. Why? Because it’s being promoted and pushed in the schools.”
Red Dirt Report – “They (the gays) don’t have any problem going from straight to gay, but they don’t like it when someone goes from gay to straight,” the lawmaker said. “This bill gives parents the freedom to take their child to a qualified counselor.”
House Bill 1599 creates the Preservation of Sovereignty and Marriage Act and prohibits public employees from recognizing same-sex marriages and public funds from being spent in any activity licensing or supporting same-sex marriage.
KOKH – “Just because three unelected officials, judges, have said that it’s unconstitutional, who do we answer to?” she asked. “Do we answer to the judges or do we answer to the people of the state of Oklahoma?”
Kern said her bills represent the values of the vast majority of Oklahomans and the numbers seem to support that. In 2004, voters overwhelmingly approved State Question 711, which defined marriage in Oklahoma as one man and one woman. Over one million people voted to pass the bill with the margin being 75.58% to 24.42%. But then last year a federal judge appointed by Bill Clinton ruled Oklahoma’s ban on gay marriage was unconstitutional. One man in a black robe told over one million people that their desire to not have state recognition of homosexual marriage was irrelevant. State governments more closely represent the will of the people than the federal government ever will. Because of that, the left has long had the tactic of utilizing leftist judges to advance their agenda, thwarting duly passed legislation on the state and local levels and nullifying the efforts of the majority to avoid state recognition of homosexual marriage.
Earlier this month the Supreme Court agreed to take up two constitutional questions that should be the end of the homosexual marriage issue, one way or the other. First, does the Fourteenth Amendment require a state to license a marriage between two people of the same sex? Second, does the Fourteenth Amendment require a state to recognize a marriage between two people of the same sex when their marriage was lawfully licensed and performed out-of-state? Arguments will begin in April with a ruling expected before the end of June.
But back to Sally Kern and her proposed legislation. While reading articles about her bills and the groups coming out of the woodwork to oppose them I found myself reading some of the most vile comments I’ve encountered. Opposing the homosexual agenda seems to be the catalyst for leftist anger and hatred, more so than any other issue. To the godless left (redundant, I know), negative comments about homosexuals or legislation like Kern’s is the worst form of blasphemy. As Brandon McGinley of The Federalist wrote, “In the United States, it’s more dangerous to offend the LGBT lobby than to provoke Muslims with what they consider blasphemy.”
The Federalist – Let’s be clear here: I’m not saying that LGBT activism is worse that Islamic terrorism. I am saying that to support a robust right to speech perceived to be offensive to LGBT people carries greater risk for the average American than to support a robust right to speech perceived to be offensive to Muslims—or really any religious group.
When a people is as risk-averse in political posturing as we are, the movement most willing to exact a personal price for opposition will win. This explains the American elite’s newfound passion for LGBT rights. The movement carefully worked to make it socially embarrassing to hold traditional views of sexual morality. For example, the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) has created an Index Librorum Prohibitorum, but for public commentators. The point is to shame and marginalize their opponents. It’s smart, cynical, and effective.
If there’s one thing an elite hates, it’s embarrassment. (The second thing an elite hates is risk.) With the support of this elite, “homophobia” is becoming just as much a blasphemy as real blasphemy has ever been in this country.
Now, every society has its blasphemies—speech that, even if legal, is not tolerated socially. A man can use racial slurs in banter with co-workers and not get thrown in jail, but he shouldn’t expect to have many friends (or a job) for long. The growing social intolerance of LGBT slurs is also salutary. A healthy culture of free expression will have a limited number of blasphemies that function to maintain access to that culture for all.
Sally Kern is certainly guilty of the leftist version of blasphemy. Her convictions about the sanctity of marriage have earned her scorn on a national level, which is highly unusual for a state legislator. It’s safe to say she is likely the most hated legislator that Oklahoma has had in recent years. But despite this, in three of her six elections since 2004 she has drawn no opponent from the Democrats. Apparently, they could not find anyone willing to oppose her. In 2014 she had no primary opponent and was reelected just by filing for office. Her last opponent in the general election was a transgendered person in 2010 who went all the way to Hollywood to find someone who would host a fundraiser. Kern won the election 66% to 34%. Due to term limits in Oklahoma she will not be able to run for reelection in 2016. I’m sure this is great news to homosexuals and even to some of her Republican colleagues who have grown weary of her.
The crux of the left’s hatred for Kern all comes down to one thing that is so vitally important to the homosexuals – acceptance. Forcing society to accept their abhorrent lifestyles as normal and acceptable is the driving force behind all the activism. Kern’s proposed legislation is a roadblock to that goal and therefore she must be crushed into submission, not only to destroy her attempts to protect the rights of those who choose to not endorse deviancy, but also as a warning to anyone else who would dare speak negatively about the abomination of homosexuality.
“They have every right to believe the way they want,” she said. “They have every right to practice the lifestyle they want to, but they don’t have the right to push it down the throat of the rest of America to where we have to say we accept it morally. And that’s what they want. It’s like oil and water, it won’t mix.”
Whether Rep. Kern’s bills make it out of committee or not, she has secured her place as deviancy’s antagonist.
I can’t help but like Sally Kern and I’ve never met her or heard her speak. The idea that she is bold enough to file these bills and fly into the face of the homosexual activists tells me all I need to know.
I can not count the times I have echoed the same thoughts voiced by Sally Kern. Homosexuals have the right to the lifestyle of their choice. That doesn’t mean we have to agree and it certainly doesn’t give them the right to force that choice down our throats as normalcy. But mark my words on this. They will not cease until they have gained the right to make us accept their sexual deviance as normal.
We need to keep up the fight against this perversion.
What I find distressing is that so many people on the right buy into this idea put forth by the left that ‘tolerance’ includes acceptance. I think a large part of it is that people are just afraid to take a stand for fear of being on the receiving end of wrath. They don’t dare commit the leftist version of blasphemy because they know what will happen if they do.