Why Do You Yell Fire in a Crowded Theater? -- An Open Letter to Rep. Sally Kern

sallykern@okhouse.gov

Mrs. Kern:

I've just listened to the 20-minute interview you had with OKC's channel 9 in regard to the public speech you made sometime after the first of the year deriding and demeaning Oklahoma's gay/lesbian taxpaying citizens.

The real danger is not whether being gay/lesbian is more of a threat than terrorism or the Islamic religion. I think the real danger is you as a legislator standing on the soapbox paid for by the taxpayer and denouncing honest, hardworking Oklahomans as inferior to you and your acquaintances.

You keep referring to the home, the family, and traditional marriage as being threatened by gay people who want the same things for their families that you already have. Do you feel there is a shortage of love and commitment and it must be rationed to only people who act and think as you do?

Why are you not introducing bills that would eliminate divorce? Divorce is the opposite of marriage and frequently causes distress to children yet what are you doing about this refutation of traditional marriage?

You couch your diatribes in terms of the First Amendment guarantee of free speech but you fail to back them up with specific references to peer-reviewed studies or professionally-qualified experts.

I feel this is the equivalent of yelling fire in a crowded theater.

Yes, you can say these things, but as a legislator you owe to your constituents as well as those hearing you to base your remarks on facts and not your superstitions.

James Nimmo
Oklahoma City, OK

© 2008 James Nimmo

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