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Hitler’s Play Book

Sally Kern must be studying Hitler’s play book.

Hitler demonized Jews by saying we controlled the world’s commerce and banks.

Kern thinks gay money is being used to control the political process.

Hitler considered Jews the personification of the Devil.

Kern thinks LGBT people are the personification of the sin undermining America’s Christian society.

Hitler believed that Jews were the springboard for sedition.

Kern believes that “good citizenship” is not within the realm of LGBT people because we are not good Christians.

Hitler believed Jews have “always been a people with definite racial characteristics and never a religion.”

Kern believes all religions are not equal.

I could go on and on.

So, who exactly is Sally Kern, and why is she getting my back up? Well, she’s a Republican member of the Oklahoma State House of Representatives where she chairs the Social Services committee. She is a former social studies teacher and the wife of a Baptist minister. She is also the woman whose anti-gay speech to a local Republican group in her home state was posted on YouTube.

She thought she was speaking to about 50 people. Well, over 1 million have listened to her and she’s heard from thousands around the country how her words inflame hatred against LGBT people.

In her speech, Kern said that homosexuality is a “death knell for this country.” She went on to say “I honestly think it’s the biggest threat even, that our nation has, even more so than terrorism or Islam.”

So what is it about us that threatens her so?

It seems, like others in the Radical Christian Right, Kern is bothered by our mere existence. Oh, she’s not proposing to send us to the type of camps Hitler sent my relatives to. But, she sure does think the fact that we’re in her community, teaching in her schools, talking about our issues and expressing our democratic options as threatening to the principles of Christianity to which she ascribes.

Because of LGBT people, the United State is no longer a civil society because our existence undermines what she considers decent, respectful, moral behavior. Kern thinks the notion of a civil society is a Christian principle.

We’re also undermining another Christian principle--good citizenship. According to Kern, good citizens know what is right and what is wrong. I don’t take issue with that per say. The issue for Kern is that if someone decides on their own, without using her interpretation of the Bible, what is right and wrong well then we’re on the path to damnation. Using her logic, people who support LGBT rights are not good citizens because what they’re supporting is wrong.

Bottom line, we’re all sinners. Don’t be fooled by her “love the sinner, hate the sin” lingo, Kern thinks we can practice our lifestyle but that the homosexual agenda—whatever that is—is destroying our nation.

So, what exactly is the death knell or the bigger threat than terrorism that is implicit to the homosexual agenda? Plain and simple—money.

Kern thinks it’s an abomination that “gay people are motivated” and that some of the wealthier folks in the LGBT community or our allies have used their money to impact elections and public policy. She singles out Tim Gill, the inventor of Quark Express, Pat Stryker, the heiress to a surgical products fortune, Jared Polis, the founder of BlueMountain.com who is now running for Congress out of Colorado and Rutt Bridges, a Colorado-based entrepreneur, for using their personal wealth to impact the state of Colorado politics.

Calling them the “Gang of Four,” Kern credited them with changing the Colorado state house from Republican to Democratic and said that their goal is to intimidate Republicans.

Well, I recently spoke with Juan and Ken Ahonen-Jover about Kern’s intimidation contention. Juan and Ken run a site called equalitygiving.org which helps LGBT donors make informed decisions about their political contributions

“Sally is saying ‘poor us, we don’t have power, gays are taking over.’ It’s all part of this whole plan of trying to play the victim. We all know the right has the power. For them to say that they don’t is preposterous,” said Ken.

I wish we were taking over—then I wouldn’t have to rail about the indecencies we face every day as LGBT people.

But Kern has the drill down. She’s taken her rhetoric right out of Hitler’s playbook. “Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it.” Those are Hitler’s words, not mine.

Day 1 Do Over

I think we can all stop saying, “What was he thinking?”

We know what soon to be former New York State Governor Eliot Spitzer was thinking—and it wasn’t about strategy to get his Executive Budget passed or to move any of his other legislative priorities forward.

Like many men in his position, Spitzer let his power go to his head. Enough said about body parts.

My real concern, of course, is for his wife, Silda, and their daughters. They didn’t bargain for this and shouldn’t have to be in the spotlight because Daddy was a bad boy.

I also feel bad for the folks who believed in Spitzer’s vision and joined his administration. There are a lot of talented people working for progressive change. This is one of those times when I’m glad I’m in business for myself and didn’t stay working in government.

To say the least, the media circus surrounding this has been intense. I was disgusted by Dr. Laura Schlesinger’s pronouncement on The Today Show that Silda Spitzer was somehow to blame because she wasn’t a caring enough wife who made her husband feel like a man. Give me a break. Women are not responsible for the philandering of their husbands. The boys make their own decisions to step out on their wives. 

It’s really interesting that Dina Matos McGreevey, the estranged wife of former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey, has become the media’s darling as the expert Governor’s wife whose husband cheated on her. He, too, resigned because of extramarital activities. But, McGreevey wasn’t paying for sex—the taxpayers were because he did put his male lover on the state payroll.

While I think she’s milking her divorce proceedings for all the press exposure she can get, I have to give her credit for taking Dr. Laura to task. Matos-McGreevey likened Dr. Laura’s hyperbole to blaming a rape victim for being raped. She’s absolutely on target.

This coming Monday will be “Day 1 Do Over” in New York State. That’s when Lt. Governor David Paterson will fill the vacuum that currently exists in the Governor’s office. This is welcome news for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

David Paterson has been a long time ally of the community. Paterson was one of those brave African-American legislators who stood by us saying the Hate Crimes bill had to include the LGBT community otherwise it would be a hallow piece of legislation that wouldn’t protect one of the most vulnerable and victimized groups in the state.

The first day in his position as Senate Minority Leader, Paterson led his colleagues in passing the Statewide Omnibus Non-Discrimination Act—a bill that we had been trying to pass for thirty years. Paterson has also been a long time advocate of marriage equality. In a January 2007 interview with the New York Blade he said, “One of the reasons we need same sex marriage is because the statistics for heterosexual marriage are so bad; that might be a way to upgrade some of the success rates.”

Just as important as his support for LGBT issues is his understanding of politics, the legislative process and the need for finesse. Clearly, steamroller politics do not work—even if you win 70% of the vote, as Spitzer had in 2006. 

Paterson’s ability to negotiate and make his adversaries feel as though they’ve also won will be a welcome relief to Spitzer’s penchant for making political enemies.
Don’t for a minute think that Spitzer’s downfall doesn’t have some political intrigue to it. Granted what he did was really stupid but it is the Southern District’s U.S. Attorney appointed by the Bush administration that is singling Spitzer out. You don’t hear anything about clients one through eight, only client #9. Let’s not forget one of Karl Rove’s legacies is politicizing the U.S. Attorney’s office in order to take out the administration’s political adversaries. Eliot Spitzer, a progressive Democrat, who could have been on the fast track to the White House was a perfect target. I’m sure going after Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno didn’t help either.

Unlike Spitzer, Paterson has a history of productively dealing with Bruno. While I wouldn’t say there’s a love fest between the two, I would say there is a good deal of respect and a willingness to work together in order to get the state’s business done.

It’s time for all of us to get back to work.