Oklahoma

OKLAHOMA CITY --- A nonbinding resolution to reaffirm marriage as a union between a man and a woman and support the federal Defense of Marriage Act has been approved in the Oklahoma Senate. [ Read more → ]

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Weighing in on the recently energized debate around gay marriage, the Oklahoma House approved a resolution without opposition Monday to reaffirm marriage as a union between a man and a woman and support the federal Defense of Marriage Act. [ Read more → ]

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma (ACLU) has announced that it will represent a transgender woman who was denied a name change by an Oklahoma judge who told her “you can’t change what God gave you.” [ Read more → ]

An Oklahoma judge has repeatedly denied transgender women their petitions for a name change to reflect their female identity, ruling that the requests were made for a fraudulent purpose. [ Read more → ]

EDMOND, Okla. -- An Oklahoma gay man says he awoke in the early morning hours on July 21 to the noise two men dressed in black and wearing face masks vandalizing his car -- he said one of the suspects threw something in his vehicle that caused an explosion and fire, while the man other fled. [ Read more → ]

Rep. James Lankford (R-Okla.) earlier this week told Think Progress that being gay is a “sexual preference” and a “choice issue,” and that he wouldn’t support employment protection legislation because people aren’t born gay. [ Read more → ]

Anti-gay extremist Scott Lively, has been invited to visit the Draper Park Christian Church in Oklahoma City for three days of “teaching and preaching,” from April 27-29, 2012. His visit happens to follow both the Holocaust Day of Remembrance and the Day of Silence, which is timely, since much of Lively’s career has been built around attempting to mis-educate and confuse people about the lives of LGBT people and making frankly absurd claims about gay people within the Nazi Party. [ Read more → ]

The field of Republican presidential candidates didn’t become any more clear Tuesday night after results were declared for the largest number of contests on a single day during the GOP primary season. [ Read more → ]

TULSA, Okla. -- An Oklahoma teen was brutally beaten at a party this weekend, and it appears homophobia was the central factor in the attack. [ Read more → ]

OKLAHOMA CITY - A bill to reinstate the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy in the Oklahoma National Guard has been derailed by the Oklahoma House of Representatives leadership. [ Read more → ]

OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. -- Oklahoma state Rep. Al McAffrey, was elected to the state Senate in a special election on Tuesday, becoming the first openly gay Oklahoma state senator. [ Read more → ]

OKLAHOMA CITY -- An Oklahoma City Republican lawmaker has introduced a measure that would reinstate the controversial “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy to ban openly gay service members in the Oklahoma National Guard. [ Read more → ]

The Oklahoma City Council this week voted to add sexual orientation to the city's employment non-discrimination policy after a debate that lasted more than half of the council meeting. [ Read more → ]

The HRC on Thursday announced that its members and supporters have sent 200,000 emails calling on Oklahoma Governor Mary Fallin (R) and the state's legislative leaders to denounce Republican State Rep. Sally Kern’s recent homophobic remarks... [ Read more → ]

Oklahoma Republican state legislator Sally Kern has repeated her claim that homosexuality is “more dangerous” than terrorist attacks while lamenting that young people are “bombarded” with the message that “homosexuality is normal and natural.” [ Read more → ]

My worldview doesn’t condemn anyone else to eternal fire and damnation. It doesn’t threaten anyone else at all, really. People ... may think they’re being threatened, but I think they’re just scared — too scared to look at the reality of life with open hearts. Their hearts are set in stone — immovable, inflexible, afraid. [ Read more → ]

Sally Kern, an Oklahoma state legislator known for her outspoken stance against homosexuality, has come to the defense of New York state Sen. Ruben Diaz Sr. (D-Bronx), a Pentecostal minister and the lone Democrat to vote against marriage equality. [ Read more → ]

Oklahoma lawmakers have voted against strengthening the state’s anti-bullying laws. [ Read more → ]

"Homosexual conduct" is still a crime in Texas -- and at least three other states -- eight years after the U.S. Supreme Court decision, Lawrence v. Texas, which struck down the state’s sodomy law, and invalidated similar laws across the country. [ Read more → ]

An Oklahoma teen 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 thrown around in front of him. [ Read more → ]