Source: The Oklahoman
Concerned
with reports that her anti-gay stance had softened slightly, Rep. Sally Kern told
The Oklahoman Friday she won't meet again with members of a group supporting gay and lesbian rights, because the organization misstated her views.
Several reports after a Thursday meeting between Kern and members of Oklahoma City chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) had indicated that the Oklahoma City lawmaker might have slightly softened her anti-gay stance and might consider voting for an anti-discrimination law that would include sexual "orientation" as a protected class.
"I unequivocally do not support sexual orientation laws,” Kern told the Oklahoma City newspaper on Friday. "While I do not advocate employers going on a witch hunt to fire homosexual employees who are performing their jobs in a manner just like any heterosexual employee, I do not support laws that would force employers to check their First Amendment rights to freedom of religion, speech, and association at the workplace door.”
Both sides described a Thursday meeting as cordial and polite.
PFLAG met with Kern on Thursday in her state Capitol office to discuss comments the lawmaker made to an Oklahoma City Republican club, stating that the gay and lesbian community is a cancer destroying the nation, and homosexuality is "the biggest threat our nation has, even more so than terrorism or Islam.”
Kern, R-Oklahoma City, told The Oklahoman that the group's members "have taken my statements and have spun them to make it appear that I am backing off my comments that homosexuality is a sin. As a Christian who believes in the authority of God's word, I will never retract my comments that homosexuality is a sin.”
The Rev. Loyce Newton-Edwards,president of the Oklahoma City chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, who met with Kern on Thursday, said she disagreed with Kern's reaction.
Newton-Edwards said her group didn't go into Thursday's meeting to debate whether homosexually is a sin "because she wasn't going to move and we weren't going to move.”
Newton-Edwards said Thursday she no longer is asking Kern to resign if she doesn't apologize for her earlier comments. She had made that request during a rally last week at the Capitol criticizing her anti-gay comments.
The Washington-based Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays issued a news release after Thursday's meeting with Kern.
In that release, there was no mention of Kern backing off her views as homosexuality. It said that Kern "did not express an apology ... nor did she back away from any of her earlier comments.”
In the news release, Jody M. Huckaby, executive director of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, said the group looked forward to "working with Kern to move equality forward.”
Kern said in her statement the group misinterpreted her views to state she was in favor of sexual orientation laws.
The release quoted Kern as saying she agreed with the idea that gay and lesbian Americans should not be fired from their jobs because of their sexual orientation.
A blog post on PFLAG's website has the lede, "Sally Kern may be singing a new tune . . . or at least a welcome remix of what we’ve heard before." Although the PFLAG post did not say so, some news stories and blog posts interpreted the "new tune" to mean that she had expressed at least limited support for an anti-discrimination measure.
A rally in support of Kern is scheduled for noon Wednesday at the Capitol.
Full article: Kern will now avoid group | NewsOK.com