My letter in the Oklahoma Gazette

My letter has made it into the new Gazette, out today. In fact, it's the lead!

In Ben Fenwick's article in the Feb. 4, 2009 issue of the Oklahoma Gazette, "It's a conspiracy!", state Rep. Sally Kern, R-Oklahoma City, is quoted as saying, "The homosexuals get it - it's a struggle between our religious freedoms and their right to do what they want to do."

No reasonable person could think that allowing homosexuals the freedom to be homosexual could in any way possibly interfere with anyone's freedom to practice their religion as their conscience dictates. The Founding Fathers knew the way to ensure everyone's freedom was to recognize that all citizens have the same basic rights - a principle they enshrined in the Constitution in Article 4, Section 2 and the "Equal Protection Clause" of the Fourteenth Amendment.

According homosexuals the same rights and freedoms as every other citizen of this country in no way infringes anyone's right to practice their beliefs and to express them accordingly in their own homes and churches, or even in public. It only constrains those who wrongly believe that their religion obligates them to use force to impose their views on others.

In such a case, the line is clearly drawn, as it is in every other situation when coercion and force comes into play: No human being has the right to use force against other human beings, except in cases where another human being has used force first.

It is irresponsible of Sally Kern to be wasting the government's energy and resources on such a non-issue when the country - including Oklahoma - is facing an economic crisis that threatens to deprive all of us of real freedom. I hope this year that we will see even some of Mrs. Kern's fellow Republican legislators getting wise to her.

Rob Abiera
Oklahoma City

Abiera is owner of GayOKC.com.

I was dissuaded from actually quoting the Constitution in my letter, but here is the text of the sections I cited (emphases mine):

Article 4, Section 2 - excerpt:

The Citizens of each State shall be entitled to all Privileges and Immunities of Citizens in the several States.

14th Amendment - excerpt:

1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

(Text from The US Constitution Online)