Yesterday, the Oklahoma City Council added sexual orientation to the city's employment nondiscrimination policy. That means gay people can now go to work without the fear of being fired, harassed or treated differently because they are (gasp!) gay.
From NewsOK:
The Oklahoma City Council voted 7-2 on Tuesday to add sexual orientation to the city's employment nondiscrimination policy after a debate that lasted more than half of the council meeting.
Gay and bisexual Oklahoma City employees and job applicants now have explicit protection against discrimination in city offices. They already had de facto protection before the vote, city officials said.
The measure was sponsored by Ward 2 Councilman Ed Shadid. Ward 3 Councilman Larry McAtee and Ward 7 Councilman Skip Kelly cast the dissenting votes.
This is pretty cool. The capital city of Oklahoma is one of the last places on earth that you'd expect to be proactive and decide to protect the rights of the LGBT community. We'd like to thank Councilman Ed Shadid and the rest of the logical (and practical) people on the city council for moving Oklahoma City forward with this measure.
Unfortunately, though, when the government decides to do the right thing and protect the rights of the minority, it brings the paranoid, close-minded, self-righteous, religious Kernhead bigots from society out of the woodwork. This sucks on many levels. For one, it reminds you that there are still a bunch of fucked up people in this world who mask their intolerance and bigotry behind the guise of religion, make-believe science and morals. Two, it overshadows any progress being made.
Need proof? Meet Tom Vineyard:
Pastor Tom Vineyard of Windsor Hills Baptist Church cited a New York judge in saying more than half of murders in large cities are committed by gay people.
Vineyard received the longest standing ovation of the day after his remarks.
Let's admit it, Mr. Vineyard is right. Gay people obviously don't need protection in the workplace because we all know they are really just a bunch of ruthless ax murders. And the last thing we need are for the gay ax murders to be protected from discrimination. In fact, we need to round them up! I've already purchased three guns and installed booby traps in my garden. I hid the traps underneath some Barbara Streisand CDs. That will catch at least three of them.
Seriously, what a fucktard. If you're honestly on the fence about this issue, just read Vineyards comment again or check out some of these other quotes from NewsOK.com. The whole reason Homosexuals need their rights protected is because of discriminatory bigots like Vineyard or Kern and all the other right-wing wackos in our state. If it were up to them, gay people would be sent to live in Liberia with all the black people their parents and grandparents probably wanted to ship there.
Anyway, even though I kind of fell into their wedge-issue trap, I don't want the bigoted views of a crazed few to overshadow the progress made by our city yesterday. Sure, in the whole scheme of things it's not a super-big deal and our city and state is still probably behind the national curve in protecting the rights of minorities, but progress is progress and we should all be proud. Just be sure to watch out for the gay ax murderers.
