It seems these days politicians don't often think before they speak. Hilliary Clinton recently said she misspoke when she said she had to run from sniper fire in Bosnia when she visited the country during her husband's presidency. This instance of 'I didn't mean to say that' comes after the notorious comments made by our own state representative.
On March 27, the UCO College Republicans provided us the opportunity to hear Sally Kern explain her comments regarding homosexuals and a "homosexual agenda" that she made at an open meeting earlier in the month.
"I'm very happy to see that people are open minded and are willing to hear the reason behind what somebody might have said, even if it's not a reason that's being revealed in the media and our news sources," College Republicans Chairman Chelsea Barnett said after the event.
"I think people now see that Sally Kern is not this devil … that some people might have made her out to be. I think they see that she's a good Christian woman that cares for others and has no ill intentions against any certain group of people for the comments she made."
This is very much what Kern said during the question and answer period following her lecture. However, during the lecture Kern said she would explain her personal philosophy to the audience and then provided philosophies from numerous sources, including one of our country's Founding Fathers, John Adams. I'm very glad to know that Rep. Kern is so well read in the philosophies of men that lived more than 200 years ago, yet I still do not know her personal philosophies.
After her lecture, Kern said she could have spoken more clearly.
"People can always say things maybe in a better way. To be honest with you, it was about over a week later, when … my younger son said to me 'Mother did you ever stop to think that maybe when you used the word terrorist that people would take that meaning that like we're hunting the terrorists down, that you were implying they should be hunted down.' That never entered my mind because I wasn't thinking that. I'm not a hateful person. I don't believe in doing violence to people," Kern said.
"The one thought that I had was just tearing down the moral fiber of this nation. So could it have been said better? Probably. We can always say things better I guess."
Indeed, I have to agree. Rep. Kern is entitled to her beliefs and opinions, whatever they may be, and she also is entitled to speak freely. However, once again, I must say elected public officials need to take extra care when speaking in any public forum, no matter how formal or casual, as their words not only represent their views, but also the views of their constituents. In this case, the citizens of Oklahoma City and residents of Oklahoma were lumped together with Kern and her comments.
This is especially true when comparing homosexuality and terrorism when you represent Oklahoma City. It wasn't a homosexual agenda that killed 168 people in the Murrah Building bombing on April 19, 1995. It was two former members of the U.S. military.
Kern passed up an opportunity to appease her critics when Film Studies graduate student Troy Steele asked her if she would care to apologize for her comments. There were no apologies that night, at least not from Kern.
After the event Steele said he "Since [hate speech] is a universal problem … and an elected official speaking out like this and thinking that it's acceptable in 2008 is abhorrent to me, … I wanted to make sure that she had every opportunity to apologize. "
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