Mike Reynolds

State Rep. Mike Reynolds authored a measure that would prohibit anyone who was ineligible to serve in the U.S. armed forces under federal regulations that were in effect on Jan. 1, 2009, from serving in the state's Guard.

Reynolds said the state is allowed to set its own standards for service in the National Guard and is not required to duplicate standards for the rest of the U.S. military.

House Bill 2195 would amend existing state law that allows any able-bodied U.S. citizen and who is at least 18 years old and not yet 70 to serve in the Oklahoma National Guard.

When contacted by LGBTQ Nation on Tuesday, the spokesman for the Guard, Lt. Colonel Max Moss said that the Guard would not comment on the pending legislation.

A spokesperson for Reynolds said Tuesday that the measure was being introduced in response to requests from members of the Oklahoma National Guard.

Toby Jenkins, executive director of Tulsa-based Oklahomans for Equality, told LGBTQ Nation that Reynolds' measure is mean-spirited and damaging to the morale of gay Oklahoma Guard troops that are currently serving in combat operations in Afghanistan.

He said his group is opposed to the the bill, urging the state's other legislators to kill the measure.

Jenkins also pointed out that it was the Tulsa based group's center that had U.S. Military recruiters on the premises the day that DADT was formally repealed last September 20th ready to sign up new recruits.

"Oklahoma has serious pressing issues -- meth crimes, prisons that are filling up too fast, schools that aren't working and this is the issue he picks as the most serious in need of attention?" Jenkins said.

"The other disturbing aspect to his bill," Jenkins added, "is that there is a section which would allow for a potential recruit to be interrogated about their sexual orientation -- this is simply intrusive."

Jenkins said that his group will work with LGBTQ allies in the state legislative committee where it currently is pending to try to stop the bill before it comes to a floor vote.

"It is this sort of thing, Reynolds and, well, even Sally Kern, which gives other people the idea that every Oklahoman is homophobic," Jenkins said.

"But that is not the reality. The truth is that there are more inclusive and accepting persons in this state than outright bigots," he said.

The measure was approved by a vote of 7-2.

Gay and bisexual Oklahoma City employees and job applicants now have explicit protection against discrimination in city offices, reported The Oklahoman.

The number of speakers for and against the measure was about even, though it seemed the majority of the people in attendance were against the measure. Some speakers were applauded when they finished their comments, and the applause was loudest and longest for those who spoke against it.

In general, speakers against the measure cited religion and opposition to adding a class not protected by federal or state law to the city's policy as their reasons.

Speakers in favor of the measure generally spoke about a desire for fairness and equality.

The Oklahoman

Since the council meeting, one Oklahoma pastor -- who spoke in opposition to the ordinance -- said he has now been receiving death threats.

Rev. Paul Blair, of Fairview Baptist Church in Edmond, said his church office received at least ten phone calls, each becoming more threatening and violent as the previous calls.

Blair said he was opposed to the city's new policy is because it would create a special class of protection based on a person's behavior.

The council ordinance only applies to city employees and not any private businesses.

The measure -- named after Ty Field, an 11-year old boy from Perkins, Okla., who killed himself last year after bullies repeatedly targeted him at school -- would have added cyber bullying to state laws already in place, and mandated all school personnel be trained in recognizing bullying and require counseling for all parties when bullying does occur.

"One year ago today I buried my son. My wife and I buried our baby, laid him in the ground," Ty's father Kirk Smalley said. "We kissed him on his cold forehead for the last time, and since that time, we've given our lives to this."

But a bill that would help educate teachers and school staff members about signs of bullying, in particular cyber bullying, was voted against by the House of Representatives, an action that has Ty's father in tears.

Some House members said they weren't happy with a revision that required schools to keep track of bullying incidents and report back to the Legislature.

"I'm tired of people just coming to the legislature to solve problems that they can solve themselves," said Rep. Pam Peterson (R-Tulsa), who voted against the bill. "I just thought this is overkill."

House members killed the legislation by a vote of 52-44.

"Any child that takes their own life because they were picked on at school, this will be on their heads, and I hope they can sleep with themselves at night," said Smalley.

And yet lawmakers in Texas, Kansas and Montana, have either failed, or face opposition, in removing the unconstitutional laws from their state's criminal code.

Although the so-called sodomy laws cannot be enforced legally, civil rights advocates say they should be removed from the books because they create a climate favorable to discrimination, harassment, bullying, and hate crimes.

In Texas, State Rep. Jessica Farrar (D-Houston) has sponsored legislation to repeal the state's sodomy law, which has been unenforceable since the 2003 Supreme Court decision. Her colleague, Rep. Garnet Coleman (D-Houston) has introduced an identical bill.

"There is archaic language in our code that is used against our citizens today," said Farrar.

The Austin American-Statesman reports:

"By leaving it on the books, you create the potential for abuse," said Jim Harrington, director of the Texas Civil Rights Project , which is representing two gay men who were kicked out of an El Paso restaurant in 2009 for kissing in public.

In 2003, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Texas could not stop people of the same sex from engaging in sexual activity. Today, the Texas Penal Code still states that it is a Class C misdemeanor to engage in "deviate sexual intercourse with another individual of the same sex" — just after a line explaining that the law is unconstitutional.

Gay rights legislation is a tough sell for Texas lawmakers. In 2005, voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

Rep. Wayne Christian (R-Center), said he would be hesitant to change the law, because it "better reflects the views of a lot of citizens" as it is. Republicans hold 101 of the 150 seats in the Texas House, a super-majority that allows them to easily control legislation.

In Kansas, the House Judiciary Committee was considering legislation last week designed to cleanup the state’s criminal code, when the panel’s top Republican and Democrat removed a provision that would have repealed the law that criminalizes gay sex.

The Topeka Capital-Journal reports:

Thomas Witt, state chairman of the Kansas Equity Coalition, said the decision by Rep. Lance Kinzer (R-Olathe), and Rep. Jan Pauls (D-Hutchinson), to remove a provision repealing the law from a cleanup bill sent a harsh message to homosexual couples living in Kansas.

He said House leadership should remove Kinzer as chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and oust Pauls from her position as ranking Democrat on the panel. [...]

"Representative Pauls' endorsement of an unconstitutional statute that's used to threaten and discriminate against law-abiding Kansas citizens is an outrage," Witt said.

"Jan Pauls was trusted to be a judge before becoming a state representative and should know better than to support unconstitutional laws," said Jon Powell, chair of the Hutchinson chapter of the Kansas Equality Coalition

Both lawmakers said the repeal seemed unnecessary since the law wasn’t being enforced.

And as we reported earlier, a Montana legislative committee on March 18 killed a bill that would have decriminalized homosexual sex. The bill would have removed language from Montana Code which defines “deviate” sexual relations as sexual contact or sexual intercourse between two persons of the same sex.

Via The Montana Capitol Report:

This bill would remove the outdated language in our criminal code that makes homosexual acts a felony. This law has already been ruled unconstitutional by the Montana Supreme Court and similar laws have been ruled unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court.

By all rational accounts, this bill should have been easy, since it only cleans up our criminal code to fit the current law. Unfortunately, all but one of the Republicans on this committee allowed their personal biases to overrule their respect for the rule of law and they voted to kill this bill.

During a hearing on the bill, GOP lawmakers equated homosexuality with bestiality and pedophilia.

The Montana Supreme Court struck down that state’s sodomy law in 1997, six years before the U.S. Supreme Court ruling.

The state of Oklahoma also has not yet repealed it's homosexual conduct laws, and the state legislature has taken no action since the 2003 Supreme Court decision to remove the law from its criminal code.

Zach Harrington

NORMAN, OK -- An Oklahoma teen, Zach Harrington, 19, has committed suicide, barely one week after attending a local City Council meeting where a debate over whether or not the city would recognize October as LGBT History Month got “toxic,” with many homophobic statements being thrown around in front of him.

Some of those who opposed the proclamation claimed that members of the GLBT community would use it to infiltrate the public school system, essentially allowing the “gay lifestyle” to become a part of the curriculum, reports the Norman Transcript.

Others claimed that council recognizing October as GLBT History Month was a waste of their time. Some members of the audience even suggested that any council members voting in favor of the proclamation may have trouble getting reelected.

Numerous residents also claimed the Bible was their guiding light, citing the ancient text as their primary reason for opposing the proclamation and the GLBT community in general.

Although the ordinance eventually passed, the bigoted and hateful comments took their toll.

Harrington’s family, who described Zach as a private young man who internalized his feelings and emotions, said it was this “toxic” environment at the Sept. 28 council meeting that may have pushed him over the edge.

Watch Norman, OK residents here:

Zach, who just graduated high school in 2009, had asked to leave his school 6 months early out of fear for his safety. His sister Nikki said that life in Norman North High School was unbearable for LGBT youth, despite several pleas to school officials.

“There was one gay guy in my high school at the time, and he was made fun of all the time,” she said. “It was a pretty much non-stop thing at school.”

Kimmel

According to an autopsy report from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, Keith Kimmel, 28, died on March 31 from acute oxycodone toxicity.

Reports the Tulsa World:

Days before his death, Kimmel complained to the Tulsa Police Department that officers had physically abused him. He said officers injured him when he was forced to leave a Tulsa gay club, the End Up, late March 26.

During Kimmel's autopsy, a pathologist found a large "road rash" abrasion on his abdomen and other injuries but stated that no fatal trauma was identified.

Instead, Kimmel probably died from "acute oxycodone toxicity," according to the report. That essentially means he took too many pain pills.

Kimmel sued the state in February after the Oklahoma Tax Commission turned down his request for an "IM GAY" license tag. The agency had said the tag could be offensive to the general public.

Kimmel

An Oklahoma man who made headlines earlier this year when he sued the Oklahoma Tax Commission to have “I’M GAY” printed on his license plate, was found dead in his Norman, OK apartment Wednesday morning, just two days after filing a formal complaint against Tulsa Police for improper treatment during an incident over the weekend.

Keith Kimmel, 28, launched a legal battle last month when his request for the specialized plate was turned down because the agency felt it could be considered offensive to the general public.

Police are now investigating the cause of his death, and reviewing his complaint of police abuse over the weekend, which he detailed in a blog post on his website.

According to Kimmel, officers beat him while trying to make an arrest Friday at a Tulsa club; he spent the night in the hospital.

A post on Kimmel's Facebook page announced yesterday, "There is no way easy to say this. Keith has been staying with me for a few days, and this morning at 7:45 I found him dead in my living room chair."

The Medical Examiner’s office has not yet determined the cause of Kimmel’s death.

Kimmel

"I want to tell people who I am and what I am. I’m proud of it. I’m openly gay. I’m not hiding,” said Keith Kimmel.

"What better way to tell everybody than to put it on the back of a car?

The Oklahoma Tax Commission turned down Kimmel's request for the vanity tag because of an internal rule against special license tags that "may be offensive to the general public," according to the Oklahoman.

Kimmel points out officials allowed tags such as STR8FAN and STR8SXI.

"They defended using ‘straight sexy’" said Kimmel. "They didn’t think that one was inappropriate but yet ‘I’m gay’ is. I think it’s kind of a double standard."

Kimmel, 28, a Norman OK resident, is a political science-pre-law student at Oklahoma City Community College, and filed the suit Wednesday in Oklahoma County District Court hoping the court will order tax officials to grant his application for the IM GAY plate.

Patrick

Three people followed Patrick down the 1300 block of South Rockford Avenue about 11:45 p.m., yelling homophobic slurs and threats, he said.

Patrick, who is gay, said he ignored the group until they closed in and then asked why they were accosting him without provocation.

The assailants then started beating, biting and slashing at Patrick with a blade, he said, leaving him with several cuts on his head and body.

The 23-year-old has been peppered with insults before, but he said he never thought they would escalate to violence.

"I've never felt scared or feared for my safety before," he said. "You brush it off and walk on. That's what you're taught to do."

Tulsa Police Officer Leland Ashley said the people who are accused of attacking Patrick are at large and were seen in a maroon Ford Mustang from the late 1990s or early 2000s.
Patrick described them as a woman in her early 40s and another woman and man, both in their late teens or early 20s.

More on this story from the Tulsa World.