Source: PageOneQ, NGBlog
Oklahoma Rep. Sally Kern (R-Oklahoma City), who said that the gay lifestyle is a bigger threat to America than terrorism, faced off against an openly gay pastor last Sunday in a debate on that delved into politics, theology, and scientific research.
Kern, as expected, did not apologize or recant her words. Instead, she alternated between denial, clarification, and justification and at one point she even went so far as to present herself about knowing the bible more than Jones.
The debate on KFOR TV's "Flash Point" featured Kern, host Kevin Ogle, panelists Burns Hargis and Mike Turpen, and Dr. Scott Jones, an out gay pastor of Oklahoma City's Cathedral of Hope. [Clips of the full program via PageOneQ and NGBlog appear at the bottom of this post]
A spirited theological and political debate ensued. Hargis defended Kern's views while Turpen sided with Jones.
"I was speaking to a group of Republicans; grassroots Republicans," Kern explained of the original speech, which gained worldwide attention after posted on the Internet by the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, "and I was talking about the homosexual agenda."
"They are out there putting forth-funding very heavily-homosexual and pro-homosexual candidates to run against, and defeat, conservatives across the nation," she argued.
In defense of her claim that what she called the "homosexual lifestyle" is a bigger threat to American than terrorism, the state lawmaker said gay political activists "is at the heart of trying to tear down what is the bedrock foundation of our society, which is the family and traditional marriage" just as terrorism "destroys and tears down."
"You don't really believe that Scott," asks panelist Michael Turpen of Pastor Jones, "is more dangerous than Osama bin Laden, do you?"
"I believe that the...homosexual agenda, and the lifestyle that it involves, is deadly to this nation. Now, I was not saying that Scott here is personally as dangerous as Osama bin Laden, but I was just making a comparison to prove my point."
Later on in the program, Jones challenged what Kern claimed to be "scientific evidence" backing up some of her assertions.
"The American Medical Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the American Psychological Association all disagree with you, ma'am," Jones said, "and they're the people I would respect as having a mainstream view, and yours is in an extreme view."
"Mine is not an extreme view," countered Kern. "Mine is the view of the average American citizen, and I disagree with you."
"Why would somebody choose to be gay?" asks Turpen.
"Because of that sinful nature," Kern responds. "We can all choose to be whatever we want to be. You know, there are some people who have a propensity to have...a violent temper, and they have to learn to control that. They can't go out and say 'that's my propensity to be angry, so I'm going to engage in all the violence I want to.'"
Kern also weighed in on her son, answering allegations that he was gay based on a 1989 arrest of a Jesse Jacob Kern on oral sodomy charges.
"In 1989, my Jesse Aaron Kern was 12 years old, and we lived in Boise, Idaho. He has never been arrested, and he has been interviewed, and he has said, 'I am not...I am straight!'"
"But if he were, I'd love him," she continues, "because God created us all in his image, OK? God has a wonderful plan for every single one of us. Sin is out to destroy God's plan for our lives."
"How could you love a gay son," asks Turpen, "that you have said is more dangerous to this country...than a terrorist?"
"I said the 'homosexual agenda,'" counters Kern. "I was not talking about--I have worked with other individuals who are homosexual. I don't hate them. I have never been rude to them."
Continuation:
Full article: Oklahoma Rep. Sally Kern, openly gay church pastor face off on television | PageOneQ
Keeping up with Sally Kern | NGBlog