Nearly two weeks after a Republican state House representative made controversial remarks concerning gays and terrorism, the Oklahoma Democratic Party issued a statement condemning the remarks.
Rep. Sally Kern, R-Oklahoma City, said at a GOP meeting in January that the “homosexual agenda” was more of a threat to America that terrorism. Kern’s comments were secretly recorded at the meeting and sent to Victory Fund, an organization supporting gays and lesbians for public office. Victory Fund posted Kern’s comments on the Web site YouTube and the remarks became a national story.
Tuesday evening, state Democratic Party chair Ivan Holmes sent out this statement: “As a member of the Oklahoma Legislature, Rep. Kern needs to spend her time and energy on providing health insurance for the 650,000 Oklahomans without health insurance and providing our veterans with the proper medical care they need,” Holmes said. “I expect the Republican leadership of the House to condemn her remarks.”
ACTION?
Rep. Al McAffrey, D-Oklahoma City, the state’s only openly gay official in the Legislature, told Oklahoma Gazette his Democratic colleagues in the House met to discuss what, if any, action they should take concerning Kern’s comments. A House member can be censured, but only under certain conditions, and that censure must come from the Speaker, not House members. Speaker of the House Chris Benge, R-Tulsa, has said he has no plans to censure Kern.
McAffrey said the issue of censure came up among House Democrats, but was quickly dismissed due to House rules dictating only the Speaker may censure House members. -Scott Cooper
This article appears in Mar 19-25, 2008.