First, Sally Kern, in her gay-crucifying speech (I was gonna use "gay-bashing" but I don't think that term goes far enough) presents such mistruths as "gays have shorter lifespans" (which, if she's referring to AIDS, she obviously hasn't picked up a medical journal in about, oh fifteen years...) and "no society that has embraced homosexuality lasted more than a few decades," (hmmm, maybe she should read up on ancient Roman practices and get back to me...they lasted more than a few decades, right?). Then, the former Social Studies teacher proceeds to hang the crux of her fear-mongering on the claim that "in schools....they don't teach facts anymore, they teach indoctrination."
If her little display of ignorant hatred isn't fact-spinning and indoctrination, what is? And, tell me, how long are we going to just sit here and tolerate the undending instances where our leaders completely reject reality and fact, and just state whatever unfounded claim they believe will further their own personal cause? When will they be held accountable for the things that come out of their mouths?
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I just spoke with someone who's close to the situation Rob just blogged about--turns out it's Sally Kerns, teacher and Oklahoma state rep, who told supporters at a county Republican meeting that gay people are more dangerous than terrorists.
The Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund posted a video on its YouTube page today that features audio of an Okalahoma state legislator talking to a gathering about the threat to America posed by gays and lesbians.
Some highlights:
"Studies show that no society that has totally embraced homosexuality has lasted more than, you know, a few decades. So it's the death knell of this country."
"I honestly think it's the biggest threat our nation has, even more so than terrorism or Islam, which I think is a big threat."
"They're 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."
"Gays are infiltrating city councils."
She also compares homosexuality to toe cancer, nach.
While the media has been covering the fallout, except Fox News, the story has a predictable arc. The hypocrisy of another anti-gay Republican opening the closet door is up there with the media's hypocrisy in conflating what Craig was doing with Foley going after children. And next to conservatives accepting Senator Vitter paying for (heterosexual) sex but calling for Craig to resign for peering through the bathroom stall.
After hypocrisy and homophobia comes the denouement. Craig will resign no doubt and be replaced by another anti-gay Republican (who may or may not be gay). The media will move on to the next story (read: scandal) and Hurricane Craig will pass with minimal damage and little national discussion on the underlying issues.
This week’s events over the racist and sexist remarks made by Don Imus about the Rutgers female basketball team were very unfortunate and made clear that we still have a very long way to go before we eliminate discrimination in all its forms. In many ways the Imus incident also highlighted the progress made on racial and women’s issues in America. It speaks to our culture that MSNBC and CBS were so overwhelmed by the response from the American people that they chose to cancel the Imus program. It was a big win for civil rights and women’s rights, but the Imus remark uncovered the deep-rooted stereotypes about African Americans and women that continue in our society. Read More »
MOQA Co-President Nick Ballen '09, in an interview last Tuesday, described the graffiti as directed at specific individuals, mentioning names along with words and images.
"The campus, in general, is pretty accepting - but there are underlying things that don't come up," said Ballen, on whether the incident was related to a larger sentiment across campus. "Sometimes that is harder for an organization to deal with. These incidents are 'isolated' but 'not' because there are smaller versions [of the graffiti] everywhere. This sort of incident reminds us to pay attention to such things around campus, because when we ignore the little things, something big like this happens."
The school has responded: with two open meetings—April 3 and tomorrow—and Middlebury’s Queer Alliance has been determined to bring up a necessary—if uncomfortable—dialogue at Middlebury.
Sage Bierster, in an opinion piece for the Middlebury Campus, calls for us all to stop unintentionally fostering discrimination by using certain, still commonly used words:
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