OKLAHOMA CITY — An Oklahoma lawmaker who has introduced several anti-gay bills for the upcoming session is withdrawing one measure, widely criticized as a licensing businesses to discriminate against LGBT people.
State Rep. Sally Kern said Thursday she has decided to withdraw her bill because she says it didn’t accomplish what she intended.
The measure would have allowed Oklahoma businesses to refuse service to any lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender person or group.
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Kern says her intention was to provide immunity from civil liability to business owners who refuse to provide a product or service to a gay person, like a baker who refuses to make a cake for a gay wedding.
Several similar measures have been introduced by other Republican legislators.
Kern still is sponsoring two other anti-gay bills. One would protect the rights of parents to submit their children to gay-to-straight “conversion therapy,” and another aimed at punishing state workers for issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
