Rinehart Continues Oklahoma’s Gay Bashing Tradition

(Isn't it time Oklahoma college students get a break on rising tuition rates? Read DocHoc's commentary this week in the Oklahoma Gazette.)

“…lesbianism is so rampant in some of the schools in southeast Oklahoma that they’ll only let one girl go to the bathroom.”—U.S. Senator Tom Coburn during his 2004 campaign

“I’m really proud to say that in the recorded history of our family, we’ve never had a divorce or any kind of homosexual relationship.”—U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe on the Senate floor, June 6, 2006

“I honestly think it’s [homosexuality] the biggest threat that our nation has, even more so than terrorism or Islam, which I think is a big threat.”—State Rep. Sally Kern’s comments posted on Youtube, March 7, 2008

“It sounds to me that Brent’s political enemies like the homosexuals and liberal good ol’ boy politicians have tried to criminalize everything he’s done.”—from a 2008 reelection “comic book” prepared by Oklahoma County Commissioner Brent Rinehart

Oklahoma County Commissioner Brent Rinehart, who faces a trial on felony charges, says he is going to use a self-written comic book disparaging gay people as campaign material in his reelection bid.

In the comic book (you can access it here), an angel and Satan battle over, well, the righteousness of Rinehart’s campaign. The angel is on Rinehart’s side. (No, I’m not making this up.) Rinehart targets gay people and his supposed political enemies, such as Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson.

Rinehart, a Republican, pictured right, faces felony charges for allegedly participating in the illegal funding of his 2004 campaign, according to media reports. The trial on the charges is slated for September.

Rinehart, who said he plans to mail the comic book to voters, told a reporter for The Oklahoman: "The history of my office is that I do expose the homosexual agenda, and that it does exist in the state of Oklahoma, and my history also would show that I am very much opposed to the homosexual agenda.”

The comic book is bizarre and hateful. It reeks of misguided paranoia. It is poorly written and poorly drawn. It is an Okie spectacle on a grand level, and it has already made national news. Here we have an Oklahoma county commissioner, who is facing felony charges, putting together an anti-gay comic book in order to convince people to vote for him.

But the larger issue here is Oklahoma’s corporate media outlets and most state leaders have allowed prominent Republican politicians to consistently scapegoat gay people. These prominent politicians, such as U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, do so without any real penalty in terms of media support. (Read the above quotes and follow the links.) They, in turn, create the dark, hateful un-cultural milieu that gives rise to Rinehart’s and Kern’s anti-gay rants. This damages the state’s image. It teaches our children hate and intolerance.

To its credit, The Oklahoman has editorialized against state Rep. Sally Kern’s recent controversial remarks about gay people. It also published an editorial criticizing Rinehart’s comic book. It provided a pdf file of the comic book as a download. But it is simply not enough.

Until the prominent political extremists, such as Republicans Inhofe and Coburn—not just the small-timers, such as Rinehart and Kern—are held accountable by the corporate media structure and other state leaders here, the gay scapegoating will continue. This means the corporate media must vehemently oppose politicians, regardless of their party affiliation or stances on issues, who disparage gay people out of bigotry and hate. Only in this way can the state restore its current national image as a place of hatred and intolerance.