PFLAG Releases
Audio of Kern Meeting

Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays has released the full 40-minute audio of a recent meeting between the Oklahoma PFLAG chapter and antigay state representative Sally Kern, the group said in a press release Wednesday. The unedited audio, released exclusively at www.pflag.org, was made public after Kern insisted that PFLAG had misrepresented her statements to reporters following the meeting. Kern, who had referred to LGBT people as a "cancer" that "is just destroying this nation," adding that gays are "the biggest threat our nation has, even more so than terrorism," met with PFLAG supporters at the state capitol on March 27. She later denied that, during the meeting, she spoke out against job discrimination against gays or that she agreed to consider an ongoing dialogue with PFLAG supporters.

On the recording, Kern is clearly heard twice agreeing with PFLAG that gays and lesbians should not be fired from their jobs simply because of their sexual orientation. She goes on to say that "maybe" she would consider a follow-up meeting with PFLAG families in her district and agrees to a dinner invitation from a PFLAG supporter in the meeting. Near the end of the conversation, Kern is asked if she does indeed oppose antigay job discrimination; she again said that she does.

"The recording, which we made with her staff's consent, is irrefutable evidence that she did agree with us on employment nondiscrimination; that she did agree to consider an ongoing dialogue with us; and that she did agree on some basic principles of fairness and equality," Oklahoma City PFLAG chapter president, the Reverend Loyce Newton-Edwards, said in the statement. "It is beyond disappointing that she has now stepped away from those comments, and it is disheartening that she, as an elected leader, has attempted to disavow her own words." (The Advocate)