Fearful eye toward the gay guy

There are names that strike terror into the heart of every red-blooded American: Osama bin Laden. Kim Jong Il. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Carson Kressley.\nDoes that last name seem a little out of place to you? Well, if you believe the words of Oklahoma State Rep. Sally Kern, the greatest threat to America’s long term survival is no mere terrorist or evil dictator, but rather Kressley, one of the flamboyant stars of “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” the show that is making over the world, “one man at a time.”\nSince last week, an audio clip of a less-than-enlightened speech from Kern has been making its way around the Internet. \n“The homosexual agenda is destroying this nation,” she told her audience. And just in case there was any doubt of the statement’s validity, she quickly added, “OK, that’s just a fact,” to really drive the point home.\nKern continued, “Studies show no society that has totally embraced homosexuality has lasted, you know, more than a few decades. So it’s the death knell in this country.” You can’t argue with that, folks. She has “studies” to back her up, proving that homosexuality leads to the downfall of civilization. Give us a break.\nBut the crowning jewel of her remarks was this: “I honestly think it’s the biggest threat that our nation has, even more so than terrorism or Islam, which I think is a big threat.” Most of us recognize terrorism is a threat to our security, but we also have enough intelligence to know that “terrorism” and “Islam” are far from synonymous. But to see how she further draws a connection between national security and people who are merely attracted to the same sex – and who, as in the case of “Queer Eye’s” Fab Five, usually have a little better fashion sense than the rest of us – is beyond all logic. \nKern was elected to represent all the people in her district, including gays, Muslims and even gay Muslims. It is unthinkable that she would say such demeaning things about law-abiding citizens in our country, let alone her own constituents. And if gays are such a menacing threat to the U.S., dare we wonder what her solution to solving this threat might be?\nWe’ve been involved in military action against terrorists around the world for many years now. If you think President Bush is bad, imagine what might happen if someone like Kern was the commander-in-chief. Sure, we’d bring our troops home from Iraq, but only so we could declare war on the gays. (We sincerely hope that Kern never reads this editorial; we’d hate to give her any ideas.)\nIt’s true that Kern is a mere state representative, and from a small state at that. She’s not a player on the national level. But her words were so outlandish that they’ve caused a lot of harm. Perhaps the most damage has been done to her own Republican party, which has many elements within it working to rid the party of embarrassments like Kern. We take strong opposition to Kern’s foolish words, and we hope that all Oklahomans, Republicans and Americans will join us.