Wed, Nov 25 2009
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Oklahoma: Gay, lesbian groups protest lawmaker’s anti-gay remarks Kern’s remarks gained nationwide attention after they were recorded and posted on the video sharing Web site YouTube by the Washington, D.C.-based Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund earlier this month.
“Studies show no society that has totally embraced homosexuality has lasted more than a few decades,” Kern says in the recorded comments. “It is not a lifestyle that is good for this nation.” A former teacher, Kern also said gays are teaching young public school children that their lifestyle is acceptable. “We’re not teaching facts and knowledge anymore. We’re teaching indoctrination,” Kern said. “They are going after our young children, as young as two years of age, to try to teach them that the homosexual lifestyle is an acceptable lifestyle. “This stuff is deadly and it’s spreading and it will destroy our young people, it will destroy this nation.” Gay and lesbian groups called for an end to the anti-gay rhetoric. “This kind of bigotry has lasted too long,” said the Rev. Loyce Newton-Edwards, president of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays in Oklahoma City. “We’re willing to stand up and say: ‘No more.’” The Rev. James Shields, a retired United Methodist Church minister who lives in Kern’s western Oklahoma City district, said her remarks have more to do with a religious doctrine than her duties in the Legislature. “I think her rhetoric in her speaking got her into a lot of trouble. I think her fears got her into a lot of trouble,” Shields said. “Representative Kern has made a number of statements that are fearful, that are lacking in tolerance and that are too emotional for rational public discussion,” he said. “It is OK to be afraid of terrorists. All of use are. It is not OK to be afraid of gay people. Most of us are not.” 
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