OKLAHOMA: Sally Kern Votes To Approve Her Own Reprimand For Racism

After facing calls for her resignation by GLAAD and the NAACP, Oklahoma lawmaker Sally Kern has voted to approve her own reprimand by the state House for racist remarks made last week. Kern preceded her vote with another apology, this one delivered to the full chamber.

"Last Wednesday night while debating a bill, I said some words that were not well thought out and that offended many African Americans and many women," said Kern, who fought back tears and quoted several Bible passages during her apology. "That was not my intent, but sadly it happened, and I take full responsibility for it and I'm truly sorry. While my words were not expressed well and implied things I did not mean, they were not spoken with any contempt or malice."

The meaningless reprimand then passed 76-16.

UPDATE: Here's Kern's apology.

GLAAD Joins Call For Kern To Resign

"Given her long and well-documented history of extreme bias towards minorities, this apology means nothing. Republicans and Democrats alike agree that the kind of blatant bigotry from an elected official like Sally Kern has no place in our public sphere. Sally Kern should resign immediately." - Jarrett Barrios, president of GLAAD, joining the NAACP in demanding that Kern resign.

NAACP To Sally Kern: Resign Now

The NAACP is calling for the resignation of Sally Kern after the Oklahoma legislator said that black people have higher rates of imprisonment because they are lazy. Via Advocate:

NAACP state president Anthony Douglas wants Kern to resign. “This is an outrage. We're calling for her to go today. She needs to step down now," he said. Under the leadership of Benjamin Todd Jealous, the NAACP has accelerated its support of gay rights and sought to recruit more gay leaders and people from diverse racial backgrounds. Kern apologized for her remarks Thursday. While the speaker of the House Kris Steele said he disagreed with her, he accepted the apology, reports KOCO TV. State representative Mike Shelton said he wants Kern reprimanded. "There is no place for those kind of comments on the floor of the Oklahoma House of Representatives or the Oklahoma State Senate," Sheldon said.

RELATED: Buzzfeed today posts 25 of Kern's most outrageous claims.

Oklahoma Gets Official State Gospel Song

On Tuesday, Oklahoma's House voted unanimously to make Swing Low, Sweet Chariot the official state gospel song. No other state has an official religious song.

When state Representative Jabar Shumate of Tulsa (left), the Oklahoma bill's House sponsor, was asked by a colleague to give a rendering of the song on the House floor on Monday, he declined, saying his pastor told him to always sing solo -- "so low nobody can hear." Even without a performance, no one voted against the song. "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" was written in 1862, when Oklahoma was still Indian Territory, by a Choctaw Freedman named Wallis Wallis. It's said the Red River made Wallis think of the Jordan River, and the song was loosely based on a Bible passage that describes the Prophet Elijah being taken to heaven in a chariot. "It should be a source of pride to all Oklahomans that this meaningful song was written in our state," Shumate said.

Gov. Mary Fallin signed the bill into law last night.

Quote Of The Day - Sally Kern

"We have a high percentage of blacks in prison and that’s tragic, but are they in prison just because they are black or because they don’t want to study as hard in school? I’ve taught school, and I saw a lot of people of color who didn’t study hard because they said the government would take care of them." - Oklahoma state Rep. Sally Kern, outdoing even herself. Oklahoma's GOP-dominated House has just voted 59-14 to place a ban on affirmative action on this year's ballot.

Arch Homophobe Sally Kern Rides The Waambulance In New Book

Oklahoma state GOP Rep. Sally "Gays Are Worse Than Terrorists" Kern has self-published a book about her horrible treatment at the hands of those awful, awful homofascists. From the Amazon description of The Stoning Of Sally Kern:

In January 2008, the pastor’s wife and former high school teacher gave a speech to a Republican club in Oklahoma City explaining that the founding fathers believed Christian principles would lead to a civilized society, individual self-government, good citizens, the elevation of learning, and a cohesive value system. While explaining the fifth benefit, a cohesive value system, she told of a group of wealthy homosexual activists who threatened the nation’s moral fabric by attempting to unseat seventy conservative politicians who opposed their agenda. Clips from the speech later were posted on YouTube, generating more than 2 million hits and leading to what she describes as a media “stoning.” That didn’t stop her from winning re-election or from continuing her calls for America to return to the conservative principles that made it great. In this book she warns that there is danger ahead if social conservatives don’t preserve the nation’s foundations of morality, truth, and tolerance. She issues a cry for conservatives to stand for their freedom now before they no longer have the right to do so.

Kern's book has already been tagged with some fun labels. Add your own reviews.



(Via - Good As You)

OKLAHOMA: Westboro Church Gets Tires Slashed, Locals Refuse To Perform Repairs

Members of Westboro Baptist Church returned to their minivan to find its tires slashed after their picket of the funeral of a McAlester, Oklahoma soldier. And every shop in town refused to make any repairs.

As their minivan slowly hobbled away on two flat tires, with a McAlester police car following behind, the protesters were unable to find anyone in town who would repair their vehicle, according to police. The minivan finally pulled over several blocks away in a shopping center parking lot, where AAA was called. A flatbed service truck arrived and loaded up the minivan. Assistant Police Chief Darrell Miller said the minivan was taken to Walmart for repairs. Even before the protesters discovered their damaged tires, they faced off with a massive crowd of jeering and taunting counterprotesters at Third Street and Washington Avenue, two blocks from the First Baptist Church, where the soldier's funeral was held. Miller estimated that crowd to number nearly 1,000 people, and they not only drowned out the Westboro protesters with jeers, but with raucous chants of "USA, USA." A few motorcyclists interspersed among the crowd also revved up their engines to muffle the protests.

Oklahoma Saved From Islam! Praise!

OKLAHOMA: Trans Attorney Brittany Novotny Loses Race With Sally Kern

Arch homophobe Sally Kern easily won reelection to the Oklahoma state House yesterday, taking 66% of the vote over novice candidate and trans attorney Brittany Novotny. But Kern got there by pulling a dirty trick in the last week of the campaign, when she sent out a (hilariously misspelled) campaign mailer falsely claiming Notovny's support for a spending issue.

Novotny's disapproval on the ballot question, which would raise per-student education spending in a way she does not agree with, was never made public. However, Kern's last-minute mailer, sent to voters over the weekend, not only claims the challenger supports SQ744 but points out several times that she is transgender. "Last I checked, bearing false witness is in violation of the 10 commandments," Novotny said. "This kind of false representation of my position on an important local issue shows that Representative Kern is not only out of touch and ineffective but also just plain dishonest. The voters of HD 84 deserve a representative who will focus on jobs, education and transportation — not more political games." The mailer also points out that Novotny is unmarried, chair of the LGBT Caucus of Oklahoma, and supports marriage equality as defining traits. Kern, on the other hand "supports traditional marriage (between a man and women [sic])" and touts that she is the wife of a preacher.

Earlier in the campaign Kern gave television interviews repeating her infamous 2008 claim that homosexuals were more dangerous to America than terrorists.

Sen. Jim Inhofe Warns Of "Open Gay Activities" After DADT Repeal

At the Values Voters douchebag-a-thon.

Brittany Novotny Vs. Sally Kern

Sally Kern claims that "out of state gay millionaire" Tim Gill is secretly backing Brittany Novotny. Neither Gill nor his PAC have donated to Novotny.

Brittany Novotny SLAMS Sally Kern

OKLAHOMA: Sally Kern's Backers Call Her Trans Opponent "A Confused It"

The Dallas Voice reports that the group backing Oklahoma Rep. Sally Kern have begun circulating an email describing her trans opponent Brittany Novotny as "a confused it" with a "hatred for God."

The e-mail from the Oklahoma Conservative Political Action Committee, posted on Novotny’s website on Thursday, goes on to say that “Some have suggested that having a sex change operation is a person’s greatest act of rebellion and hatred toward God for His making them what they were.” “It is truly sad to see people reject God’s love for them by being willing to mutilate themselves,” the OCPAC e-mail states. “If they would submit their life to God, they could find the true the joy in life that will forever elude them while on their path of rebellion. The hatred and rage toward Sally continues unabated in the homosexual community because Sally dared to declare their political agenda for what it truly is, more dangerous to the future of America than the threat of terrorism.” The OCPAC e-mail comes not long after Kern herself defended the infamous 2008 comment saying homosexuals pose a bigger threat to national security than terrorists.

We'd expect nothing less from the detestable Rep. Kern. Hit the above link for the full text of the email.

PhoboQuotable - Sally Kern

"Here in America we’ve had what maybe three known real big terrorist attacks on our nation. But every day our young people especially, all of us, but our young people especially are in a sense bombarded with the message that homosexuality is normal and natural." - Oklahoma state Rep. Sally Kern, repeating her 2009 claim that teh gay are worse than terrorism.

Kern's 2010 challenger is Brittany Novotny, whom you can support here.

Sally Kern Is At It Again

This is a new campaign ad from Brittany Novotny, the trans attorney running against Sally Kern for the Oklahoma legislature.

Arizona's Copycats

The Washington Post tracks the states looking to copy Arizona's racist anti-immigrant law.

Lawmakers in Oklahoma, South Carolina and Utah, which have already taken steps against illegal immigration, say that Arizona-style measures have a realistic chance of passing when their legislatures reconvene in 2011. The Obama administration sued Arizona in federal court Tuesday, charging that the state law usurps federal authority, would hamper immigration enforcement and would lead to police harassment of those who have no proof of lawful status. The government asked that a federal judge stop the law from taking effect July 29. Legislators in at least 17 other states introduced bills this year similar to the Arizona law, which allows officers to question anyone they suspect of being in the country illegally. But most of those measures are not considered likely to be adopted or signed by governors. The political climate in Oklahoma, South Carolina and Utah, however, improves the chances that state legislatures there could follow Arizona's lead in 2011.

Anita Bryant Leaves Her Sewer

The original Queen of Hate, Anita Bryant, will be slithering out of whatever sewer she's been hiding in all these years to appear at an anti-gay event in Oklahoma tomorrow. Gossip Boy reports:

The controversial Queen of Gay Hate, Anita Bryant, will be returning to the stage on July 9, 2010 for a patriotic performance in Yukon, OK before an Oklahoma-based group that has become nationally known for its malevolent attacks on gays and whose members include the husband of leading homophobe State Rep. Sally Kern. Bryant’s appearance is part of a two-day conference spanning July 9th and 10th calling for a return to America’s Christian heritage, a crusade against Muslims and gays, and will coincide with the first ever Patriot Pastors Tea Party. The headliner for the event is the widely discredited David Barton, who, to push his Christian heritage agenda, has been caught numerous times fudging history and fabricating quotes that he would then claim were made by the Founding Fathers. Barton has gained criticism for speaking at Christian Identity gatherings that called for the execution of homosexuals.

Here's a flashback from 1977.

OKLAHOMA: Tulsa City Council Adds Sexual Orientation Protections

Gay rights? In Oklahoma? Get out of here!

Champagne corks popped at the Dennis R. Neill Equality Center on Thursday night after the City Council voted to add sexual orientation to Tulsa's nondiscrimination policy. Oklahomans for Equality members cheered and jeered at a rally as they watched councilors discuss the issue and their votes on a large-screen TV at the center. "As a gay, black man in Tulsa, Oklahoma, it's a monumental night," said Tracy Allen, incoming volunteer coordinator at the center. The change in policy is more in line with other large cities and will help Tulsa as it continues to grow, Allen said. "We are impressed with what we're seeing," he said. "As a city, as a whole, we are growing in the right direction." Oklahomans for Equality released a statement saying the vote marked a 35-year journey to equality, beginning with a 1975 report commissioned by then-Mayor Robert LaFortune. That report recommended that the city adopt the nondiscrimination policy.

Sally Kern must be livid. Excellent.

PhoboQuotable - Brian Walters

""I don’t want my vote to be construed as support, because I really don’t support that, the same way that I wouldn’t support a group of, say, pedophiles who wanted to assemble. I would not vote yes on that either, [or] men who beat up their wives. Anything like that." - Oklahoma City councilman Brian Walters, explaining why he voted against a parade permit for this year's gay pride event.

(Via - The Advocate)

Sen. James Inhofe On DADT: Soldiers Won't Fight To Defend Gay Comrades

Speaking to Bryan Fischer on the American Family Association's radio program, Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) claimed that American soldiers would not fight to defend openly gay fellow soldiers. And therefore, we cannot allow the appointment of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court.