Sally Kern's Husband: Force Gays into "Centers"

Progressive Americans were disappointed but not terribly surprised when Oklahoma voters re-elected diehard homophobe Sally Kern to her post in OK's House District 84. (Sally's website proclaims in blood red letters that she's a Kern-servative!  Apparently this is what passes for wit in Wingnut World.) 

You will recall that earlier this year the state representative caused an uproar after she was secretly taped telling her constituents that gays are the "biggest threat our nation has, even more so than terrorism" and that "homosexual activists" were infiltrating schools and "going after two-year-olds."  In the ensuing negative publicity, Kern wrapped herself in the cloak of "persecuted Christians everywhere" and even started packing heat to protect herself from all the "gay assassins" determined to cause her bodily harm.  She told right-wing news outlets that she'd received emails containing death threats.  This false allegation resulted in a resource-squandering probe by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.  (After pouring over 26,000 emails, OSBI found not one threat.)     

Now Sally Kern's husband, a Baptist minister, is saying that gays should be forced into re-education camps.  "It’s past time that this nation stopped placating sin and start putting them in education programs. Courts can force drug offenders into treatment centers... There’s no reason our courts can’t do that with homos!"  This surprising unsurprising declaration came to light during Gossip Boy's special report on Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett.  Word of Cornett's plans to stack the Metropolitan Library Commission with religious extremists prompted the blogger to contact  Pastor Steve Kern.  A reporter from GB pretended to be working with the Mayor in an effort to ban gay and lesbian literature from city libraries (an idea gleefully endorsed by the good pastor).  Sally's hubby fell for the ruse and let loose his "concentration camp for gays" rant.  Earlier, heaping praise on one of the mayor's commission choices, the Baptist preacher said, "Paul won’t take a lick of nonsense from the homos. He’s been such a blessing to Sally and I."

Isn't it astonishing that fundamentalist Christians who advocate forcing gays into "treatment centers" can turn around and in virtually the same breath whine about how they themselves are being persecuted?

Comments

[Scott]

"Isn't it astonishing that fundamentalist Christians who advocate forcing gays into "treatment centers" can turn around and in virtually the same breath whine about how they themselves are being persecuted?"

Pastor Steve Kern is not a christian. I like to refer to people like him as "christianists", to differentiate between them and the real christians.

[Harry]

Gay is the new Jew, it seems. Pretty soon, they'll claim that homosexuals are causing these economic problems and that putting them in these concentr... err, 'centers' will fix everything.

[Paul]

fyi- it's true, we are causing the economic crisis.

Let us have marriages and things would be coasting. But without all of our same sex marriages... Well, just look at how we're doing.

[JTDC]

@Scott: you're committing a "True Scotsman" fallacy. On what criteria does one become a Christian? Why, specifically, those criteria and not others? Which criteria do they violate? What assures that validity of your criteria?

They are real Christians--on the fringe, but real Christians nonetheless. They are the face of Christianity in the Dark and Middle Ages. They are the face of Christianity, to a lesser extent, of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, through the Industrial Revolution. Until fairly recently, living memory to be precise, this was not an uncommon sentiment.

That does not, however, make them right or good. But, historically, you would not be the "true" Christian.

[pibb]

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/poring+over

[ASE]

JTDC-

I have to say that you're wrong. I have seen the 'face' of Christianity and it isn't these two who are spreading hate/distrust. Most Christians that I've known in my life have been very supportive and loving of any and all walks of life. Do they like the idea of being gay? No, but that doesn't stop them from loving their kids who are.

Most people tend to forget that the Christian god gave one rule and one rule only in the New Testament....treat others as you would like to be treated. It doesn't add 'only if they are the same as you'.

People using faith as an excuse to harm another is wrong...and I don't think they'll escape that lie so easily in the end.

[RMNY]

Don't be surprised when you hear this creep being caught in some airport toilet stall soliciting sex with an undercover officer or getting male massages and buying crystal meth.

Batptist Minister! Really!

I have an idea, they should take all the Baptists and throw them in school!

Forced Education!

[Roger]

Personally I'm tired of all of the "Christian" intolerance I've seen all throughout my life. I am a Christian, married to a woman man and find this kind of thinking completely and utterly disgusting. Gays are God's children as well as you and me. We are even embroiled in a war because of these types and their very narrow and bone-headed way of thinking that hasn't changed since the medieval times. They are no better than the extreme Islamists who also view extermination as the only way to solve their perceived problems. And make no mistake, most Muslims are in fact peaceful people just like most Christians are. And I can't believe that either Allah or the Christian God truly approves of treating any fellow human beings this way. How about putting these retards and their ilk in their suggested camps and maybe we can have some peace in the world for a change?

[YogaforCynics]

You have to understand that, if God say you're right, the bar for "persecution" is pretty low. Thus, right wing Christians are persecuted for not being able to force kids to read fairy tales in public school science classes, for not being able to force those same kids to pray, for not being able to tell women what they can do with their bodies, and, yes, for not being able to discriminate against homosexuals.

[Jayme]

"persecuted christians"????!!!??? Are you kidding!!??? This woman should be b!tch slapped, and her husband the same. I may not be gay, but I do know that someone being gay has nothing to do with my life. I have friends who are gay that I love very much, I want to see them have a happy and discrimination free life.

[Michelle]

Aside from the fact that this woman and her husband are obviously mentally ill, it would be funny if it wasn't so terrifying.....and I AM a lesbian...

[Logic]

THIS is exactly whats wrong with our world today, her and people who think like her.Its easy to hide your ignorance and hatred behind a cross.The KKK did the same, theirs just stood out more."Christian persecution"??? Are you kidding me?"Gay assassins"?? There is a thin line between mental illness and evil.I think they might have found a nice balance :\ I cant believe people voted this nutbag into office.Or that anyone is defending them by saying that there IS religious persecution out there.What does one thing have to do with the other?Since she experienced it then shes allowed to hand it out? Im confused by all the bigotry, guess I have to be christian to get it.

[Dalila]

Any christian who judges others isn't a real Christian

trust me I am one and we are normal! Yeah, you read right, normal. We have just as many problems as everyone else. So mind your own business. As said in the Bible, Let thee without sin cast the first stone! Dont't judge becasue you aren't perfect. God is laughing at you becasue you think you are. It's the best joke he's heard in a while.

[Looseleaf]

Q. How can you tell that your god is man-made?
A. If he hates all the same people you do.

[RachelU]

I cannot believe just how contradictory most Christians are. I mean, even the bible itself is contradictory, but she claims to be such a God-fearing woman, such a good Christian. But doesn't it say right in the Ten Commandments, the most known edicts of Christianity, 'thou shalt not bear false witness'? And yet she made false claims that gays were trying to 'kill her'. And all religious issues aside, there is no better way to make null & void an attack on your enemy (and not to mention make a fool of yourself) than to tell a lie about them. Especially today, in the information age, when almost everything can be discovered with just a few clicks on the lovely internet. You wanna strike down the 'unholy', lady? At least wage a decent attack. Further more, why don't you waste your time and other people's precious oxygen trying to thwart the TRUE evils like rapists, murderers, drug dealers, etc.? It just absolutely drives me crazy when the people in office use their authority to further their own personal agendas. But let's face it; it's 2008, and there is almost no such thing as a good, honest politician. The powers that be aren't interested in the greater good, and they haven't been for a long time. Look, I'm sorry that this rant was kinda long, but this kinda sh!t just irks me to no end.

[Amy]

RachelU:
Please seek some better Christians. You might try in a convent or soup kitchen.
Really, not all of us or even most of us are that way. Just the loudest ones. Jesus tells us to go into our closet and pray, not make a big display on the street corner.

[RachelU]

Which is why I specifically stated, in my very first sentence, 'most Christians. The majority of my family are of the Christian faith. I don't have a problem with Christians, in fact, I am fairly envious of you. You believe in something. I wish I had that kind of mindset, but I just don't. I'm sorry if I offended you. I don't see anything wrong with Christians, just the things that a lot of Christians do in the name Of Jesus. And yes, the loudest ones are the ones that get the most attention, and therefore, the most scrutiny. But I'd be willing to bet damn near anything that if you peeped into the lives of at least half of all Christians in America, you would find some very un-Christian things. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying I'm perfect, but I also don't claim to be a Christian.

[JT]

I live in Oklahoma, not only do we have Mrs. Kern but we also have Mr. Jim Inhofe who thinks global warming isn't real!

Anyone want to let me live with them in another state?

[Reverend Davidius]

ASC-

"Most people tend to forget that the Christian god gave one rule and one rule only in the New Testament....treat others as you would like to be treated. It doesn't add 'only if they are the same as you'."

I could open the bible to just about any page in leviticus and prove you wrong, not that I find any of it appealing (I find the whole thing to be long-winded and barbaric). Fact is, in one section of the old testament, there are a shit-load of rules.

[Mike, the Atheist]

WWJD: Homosexuals
1. Disregard Leviticus
2. Love and tolerate everyone
3. (if it is your opinion that they are) Tolerate evil.
-Sermon on the Mount