Gay Rights

When are more Oklahoma state leaders going to speak out against the politics of hate and intolerance practiced by Brent Rinehart, Randy Terrill and Sally Kern?

Each one of these local politicians has brought a tremendous amount of negative publicity to the state and, unfortunately, will continue to do so unless more state leaders speak up against their agenda to use hate and scapegoating to further their careers. These three Oklahoma City area residents make the state's residents seem like ignorant, mean-spirited hicks to the rest of the nation.

All three have been in the news again recently.

Oklahoma County Commissioner Brent Rinehart recently self-published a comic book he plans on using as campaign material. The crude, self-written comic book spews basic clichéd hatred at gay people for advocating the mythical and tired phrase “homosexual agenda” and attacks the local sheriff and state’s attorney general. Both CNN and ABC news have covered the Rinehart comic book story as one of those typical “can-believe-how-these-hicks-think?” stories. It is a continuing saga. The comic book has received wide coverage on Internet sites as well. Adding to the controversy is the fact the Republican Rinehart, who represents District 2, faces a trial on felony charges alleging he illegally funded his 2004 campaign. He says the charges are politically motivated, but the entire Rinehart spectacle seems particularly trashy.

State Rep. Randy Terrill, a Republican from Moore, who brought the state the nation’s strictest anti-immigration laws in the nation, is facing recent legal questions about his 2006 bankruptcy. Now a bankruptcy trustee is calling for the case to be reopened over the question of hidden assets, according to media reports. Many people face money problems in today’s terrible economy, for sure, but the bankruptcy and the recent questions about it raise obvious issues about Terrill’s motivation in sponsoring the draconian anti-illegal immigration measure. Did Terrill see the illegal immigration issue as extremely personal because of his money problems? Did he have an inappropriate axe to grind? Whatever the case, Terrill’s House Bill 1804 has brought the state a huge amount of negative national publicity. Many see Terrill's anti-illegal immigration efforts as primarily focused on Hispanic people. Certainly, the federal government has failed on the immigration issue primarily because of competing factions within the Republican Party, but Terrill’s bill makes Oklahomans seem intolerant and mean-spirited. Are you better off because of Terrill’s bill? Did you wages go up because of Terrill’s bill? The illegal immigration problem is a federal issue.

State Rep. Sally Kern, a Republican from west Oklahoma City, was recently stopped from carrying a pistol into the state Capitol. State troopers say it was an honest mistake and did not press charges, but one cannot help but wonder if an ordinary citizen would have been given the same treatment. Okay, go ahead and give gun-toting, gay-bashing Sally a pass on this one, but do not give her a pass on her previous widely reported statements that gay people are worse than terrorists. A video containing her outrageous comments about gay people was viewed by more than a million people. Kern’s remarks, Rinehart’s comic book and even gay-bashing comments by U.S. Sens. Tom Coburn and Jim Inhofe continue to make Oklahoma seem intolerant and archaic.

There you have it: Rinehart, Terrill, Kern, all Republicans, all from the Oklahoma City area. These three people continue to hurt Oklahoma’s national image. Meanwhile, decent progressive-minded people are forced to leave the state in droves. Rinehart, Terrill and Kern are driving intelligent people away from the state. Where is the state's leadership?

The answer is to vote all three out of office, but the state’s corporate, political and educational leadership needs to get more active in discrediting the narrow views of intolerance and hate.

Pride Swells

Anyone who has attended Oklahoma City’s Gay Pride Festival and Parade through the years knows just how much it has grown in size and stature.

This year that phenomenal growth was evident once again. Oklahoma City’s Memorial Park, the site of the festival, was jam packed on both Saturday and Sunday; one vendor even had to be turned away because there was simply no room. The parade route was 10 to 20 people deep in places. The thousands of people who attended and participated in the event—perhaps more than 40,000—represent a growing and formidable political power in the city.

Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett was too busy spewing hatred against gay people and their causes in his Fifth District U.S. Congressional political campaign to even write a welcome letter for the festival’s guide. Cornett, a Republican, recently claimed credit in a campaign advertisement for reshelving non-sexual, innocuous gay-themed children’s books in the area’s public libraries.

Nonetheless, there were plenty of enlightened city leaders and politicians at the event. County Commissioner Jim Roth marched in the parade, for example. Democrat Andrew Rice, the frontrunner in his primary race for State Senate in District 46, marched in the parade with his wife, Apple, and child, Noah. One of his opponents, Rhonda Rudd, was there with her partner, Jayshree. Al McAffrey and Casey Davis, running for state representative in District 88, marched in the parade as well.

Those local leaders writing welcome letters in the festival’s guide included Roth, Oklahoma County Sheriff John Whetsel, and Oklahoma City Council Members Sam Bowman and Ann Simank. The guide noted that Cornett did not respond to its request for a welcome letter.

Local organizations that promote diversity, peace and freedom of expression had floats in the parade. They included the Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus, the Oklahoma City Peace House, the local American Civil Liberties Union, the Mayflower Congregational Church, and at least one campus chapter of the Gay Alliance for Tolerance and Equality. Organizations working for AIDS prevention and awareness and sex education had floats in the parade as well. Many other local gay-rights groups were represented as well.

There will come a time when local politicians like Cornett will not be able to risk alienating the gay community and those who stand with them in their quest for true equality in our culture.

Take The Money And Run

According to news reports, Kerr-McGee was recently sold to a Houston-based company, and it will no longer have a major presence here, says its chief executive officer.

So let’s get this straight. We worship energy companies and other big corporations here on the prairie by giving them big tax breaks and naming every street and park and arena and stadium in the city after them because they give some of the tax cuts back in the form of philanthropic (aka publicity stunts) causes, and then one day they leave and that is it.

As I have argued before, when the last drop of oil and the last bit of natural gas is drawn from Oklahoma’s red dirt, the energy companies will be gone, and they will be a minor blip in the state’s history. They will be known as greed mongers in The Oil Age. The people who made millions from these companies and then used their money to buy political power will go down in history as corrupt, ugly people. As the environment collapsed, as the world ran out of fossil fuels, they did nothing but line their pockets with blood money.

Kerr-McGee is a perfect example of this. What will it leave behind of substance here? Not one damn thing. Oh yeah, Kerr-McGee leaves us the memory of the Karen Silkwood case.

Higher Ed And TABOR

The Higher Education Alumni Council of Oklahoma is sponsoring a TABOR forum at 2 p.m., July 7 in the Student Center at Oklahoma State University-Oklahoma City.

Oklahoma universities and colleges and their students stand to lose the most if a so-called Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights measure is ever passed here. The measure would limit the state’s budget growth to a formula tied to population growth and inflation. An initiative petition that would place the measure on the November ballot has been challenged in the courts. Colleges normally get less funding in tight budget years—every year under TABOR—and students get stuck with much higher tuition. Meanwhile, there is no money to maintain the infrastructure of colleges and universities. Oklahoma already struggles with chronic underfunding for education.

Dr. Toni Larson, executive director of Independent Higher Education of Colorado, will be leading the forum. She experienced TABOR firsthand in her state before Colorado voters rescinded it because it had done so much damage to the state’s education systems, according to an Alliance for Oklahoma’s Future news release. The forum is open to those who support higher education. Pre-registration is requested by July 5. Call 405-848-1333 or email heaco@onenet.net.

The higher education community in this state, from regents to college presidents to professors to students, needs to unite on this issue regardless of what happens to the lawsuit. One gubernatorial candidate, U.S. Rep. Ernest Istook, has said he would continue the fight for TABOR if he is elected.