OKC Votes For Nondiscrimination Policy That Includes Sexual Orientation

When I first read this story, I thought, "Well, here's a bit of good news from the land of Sally Kern." And, don't get me wrong, it is good news, welcome  news, and about time news. But, it's also slightly troubling. Really troubling. Very troubling. What people will say when fighting equality and calling in the name of God in their fight.

The good news first. The Oklahoma City Council voted 7-2--quite a majority--to add sexual orientation to the city's employment nondiscrimination policy. See, now The Gays are just like everyone else....who's a city employee in the OKC.
But the debate over the issue is the troubling news.

Ward 2 Councilman Ed Shadid, who sponsored the measure:

“I would propose that we let the city be the employer, and let God be the judge. Let God sort this out later, and let us act objectively based on somebody's job performance, and that's it.” 

Ward 3 Councilman Larry McAtee, who was one of the two dissenting votes:

 “Oklahoma City has shown it is a thriving municipality with much to be thankful for. It would be foolish to jeopardize our success without a proven need for doing so.” 

And now, for those citing 'religion' as an excuse for inequality.

Paul Blair, pastor of Fairview Baptist Church in Edmond:

“Why are we creating a special class of protection for someone's behavior? We're not talking about civil rights. This is not a gender, or this is not a race.”

Eric Rogers, just a Regular Joe....asshat:

“This proposed law could be construed to help those that would look to animism, polygamy, transvestite ... or even later, if you want to get crazy, convicts, molesters, liars or any other behavior choice.”

But the worst of all was one little man of god, little g, one Pastor Tom Vineyard of Windsor Hills Baptist Church, spoke against the measure and actually cited a New York judge in saying more than half of murders in large cities are committed by gay people.

'Pastor' Asshat failed to mention the name of the judge, or the study, or the statistics, He simply said that more than half the murders committed in large cities are committed by gay people, and then received the longest standing ovation of the day after his remarks.

Like this one:

Tom Vineyard, 'pastor':

“Many homosexuals openly admit that they are pedophiles because they cannot actually reproduce. They resort to recruiting children. ... Folks, you're making a decision that will bring down God's judgment on your city if you vote in favor of this.”

Of course, though, not all pastors are such narrow-minded, hate-filled, lie-spewing, homophobes. In fact one such pastor, Scott Hamilton, of the Church of the Open Arms said:

“To couch in Christian terms these so-called statistics, I'll call them what they are. They are lies.” 

This is a perfect example of the Separation of Church and State. While everyone, even people like Tom Vineyard and Eric Rogers, are entitled to their viewpoints, be they religious or not, logical or not, factual or not, they cannot be allowed to impose their religious convictions on the laws of this country.

But then, as I want to do, to lower my blood pressure, and remove the remnants of these morons from my mind, I will once again focus of the good news, because, and it bears repeating, the Oklahoma City Council voted 7-2--quite a majority--to add sexual orientation to the city's employment nondiscrimination policy. 

Take that, 'Pastor'.

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