I guess it's time for Christina Fallin's straight friends to write an angry letter to Governor Mary Fallin, too.
If you remember correctly, our State's Chief Executive Derplahoman announced back in September that the Oklahoma National Guard will no longer process benefit requests for same-sex couples. She made the decision because the will of the Oklahoma people is to apparently defy federal law and treat homosexual servicemen and women who are willing to serve and protect this country as second-class citizens.
Well, now she's taking things to a whole new crazy and embarrassing Sally Kernesque level. Check out this Randy Krehbiel story that published a few weeks ago in The Tulsa World. Governor Mary has instructed state-owned National Guard facilities to stop processing benefit requests for everyone:
Oklahoma will stop processing all military spouse benefit applications at state-owned National Guard facilities rather than begin accepting the applications from same-sex spouses, Gov. Mary Fallin said Wednesday.
Instead, military spouse applications, including those of same-sex couples, will only be accepted at four federally owned National Guard bases: the Air National Guard bases in Tulsa and Oklahoma City, the Regional Training Institute in Oklahoma City and Camp Gruber.
The applications are already being processed at the state's five U.S. military installations: Fort Sill, Tinker Air Force Base, Altus Air Force Base, Enid Air Force Base and the McAlester ammunition plant.
The Fallin administration's decision appears to be in defiance of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel's directive to process the applications of all spouses, regardless of sex, although Fallin maintained her solution complies with all "federal rules or policies."
Fallin said the decision was reached in consultation with Attorney General Scott Pruitt.
"Oklahoma law is clear," Fallin said in a statement.
"The state of Oklahoma does not recognize same-sex marriages, nor does it confer marriage benefits to same-sex couples. The decision reached today allows the National Guard to obey Oklahoma law without violating federal rules or policies. It protects the integrity of our state constitution and sends a message to the federal government that they cannot simply ignore our laws or the will of the people."
Although Oklahoma owns most of the state's National Guard armories and training centers, the facilities were built almost entirely with federal funds.
The federal government provides about 90 percent of the budget for the Oklahoma Military Department, which includes the National Guard.
I don't know how or why, but I totally missed this article when it was released a few weeks ago. I guess I just assumed it was a regurgitation of the original story, or maybe my body is building up an immunity to the words and policies of nutty Oklahoma politicians. We should get OMRF to research a Derplahoman vaccine or something.
Fortunately, the national media recently picked up on the news and has exposed the Governor for being a backwards thinking, illogical, misguided bigot. My favorite article/column was written by Mark Joseph Stern over at Slate.
Here's a snippet:
When Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin was sworn into office, she promised in her oath to “offend the Constitution of the United States.” Many at the time assumed it was a blunder. But as it turns out, Gov. Fallin is true to her word.
I totally forgot about the "offend the constitution" line. I guess I was more wrapped up in her plagiarizing a public radio story about a war veteran.
Stern continues:
Not to harp on the point, but this notion is so deliriously erroneous, so undeniably and doltishly wrong, that I can’t quite believe Fallin believes it herself. The military’s policy of providing spousal benefits to same-sex couples is not a gentle suggestion. It is a federal mandate, prompted by the president himself, extending from the Pentagon to each (federally funded, federally supervised) National Guard base. It doesn’t matter whether the policy violates Oklahoma’s constitution: The Constitution of the United States declares in Article VI that “the laws of the United States ... shall be the supreme law of the land,” regardless of “the constitution or laws of any state to the contrary.” By presidential decree, the laws of the United States now require spousal benefits for gay soldiers; following that order is a constitutional requirement. And the federal constitution is not something a state governor can simply toss aside when it doesn’t suit her viciously homophobic beliefs.
Fallin, however, isn’t alone in her crusade of unconstitutional bigotry. Texas, Louisiana, South Carolina, Florida, and Georgia have all resisted the new policy as well, citing similar (and similarly fatuous) concerns about their anti-gay state constitutions. I’m not sure what these states’ excuse is—aside from virulent, unpatriotic prejudice—but at least Oklahoma has a defense to fall back on. The state elected a governor who, on her very first day in office, swore “to offend” the United States constitution. We can fault Fallin for many things. But we certainly can’t accuse her of going back on her word.
Well said, National Writer Dude.
Anyway, I wonder where this bizarre line of thinking from our Governor is going to stop. Let's hope she doesn't learn that gays and lesbians can apply for a state issued driver's license. She'll probably take them away for all of us.
Seriously, though, with gay rights continuing to expand and DOMA being ruled unconstitutional, I wonder what other things she's going to ban for both homosexuals and heterosexuals. If state's are forced to allow gay marriages, will she just direct the Oklahoma courts to stop issuing marriage licenses for everyone? What's going to happen when some gay couple that was married in Vermont wants to file for a divorce in Oklahoma? Will she ban divorce? Well, probably not. Knowing what we know about Mary and her views on gay marriage and divorce, she'll probably want to leave that available for everyone.
