Kern: “Gay is like a computer virus”

by Robin Dorner
Editor in Chief

Oklahoma City - The diversity of the LGBT community is exceptional. We are of all different cultures, religions, races and creeds – and just being gay makes us fabulous. (OK, maybe that’s just my opinion.) And when I say ‘gay,’ I mean LGBTQQI2A – all of us who make up the greatness of our diverse and amazing people.

And we are also Democrats, Independents, Libertarians, Socialists and yes, Republicans. 

Recently, a most fabulous 78 year old gay Republican called me to tell me his story about his encounter with Oklahoma Representative Sally Kern…at the Oklahoma Republican Party Convention, to which he is a delegate.

“My partner and I have been together for over 35 years,” said Jerry Tate, who called The Gayly to share the offensive words Sally Kern would spew, even to a brother Republican…but a gay Republican.

“My partner and I have both been proud our entire lives,” Tate continued. “In fact, we were both delegates to the Oklahoma Republican Convention held on Saturday, April 11th.

“I registered when I was 21 years old and that was in 1958,” said Tate. “However, I knew when I was a sophomore in high school that I was a Republican. I had an ex-FBI agent for a world history teacher and he taught us about current events. It was at a time Eisenhower was running for President. They were both very good influences on me.”

Tate moved to Oklahoma in 1979 when he met his partner.

“We have been together ever since that time,” added Tate. “And always together we have supported the Republican Party…except for Sally Kern and those like her.”

At the Oklahoma State Convention, Tate saw Sally Kern and found the opportunity to speak with her about the issues of equality of all citizens that says he is very passionate about.

“When I introduced myself to her she was very nice, but when I told her I was a 78 year-old gay Republican and I wanted her to ‘lay-off’ the gays and lesbians because I knew a number of gays and lesbians who are Republicans and who are also delegates to the convention today.”

It was at that moment Kern’s smile turned to a scowl and she said, “It’s like two computers. One being male, the other one being female. And a virus enters one of the computers…that’s where the homosexuals come in.”

I told her I was no virus. I told her my father had been a minister in the Nazarene church and even my parents recognized who I was and they let me be myself. Even they didn’t try to change me like you are trying to change the gays and lesbians today because they knew you don’t change what you are born with.

That is when she said, “Well, your father did not preach what the Bible says.”

And that, Jerry said, is when Kern turned around and walked away from him.

“And I expected that. So I went back and sat down where I had been sitting and felt better about getting that off my chest. I wanted to meet her anyway.

“I had met my House Rep (Jason Nelson R-87), who is also a Republican, at the County Convention and said the same thing to him, he listened to what I said, and where he said he didn’t necessarily agree, he sure treated me with respect.”

Tate added that every time Kern is on TV with some of her anti-gay rhetoric, he gets calls from friends and relatives from several different states saying, “What the hell is wrong with that woman?”

(Editors note: We were unable to confirm that both male and female computers actually exist).

A look back on some other “great moments in history” by Representative Sally Kern:

2013: “They are going around the nation (SAMHSA)…they just did this here in Oklahoma, December 7th, [2012] and having conferences that are educational. About two percent of the conference is dealing with substance abuse and mental health issues. 98 percent is doing indoctrination or pushing the homosexual agenda. This is what our President is doing. He has a federal agency doing it. Our state, the Oklahoma Mental Health and Substance Abuse Department, put this conference on and is indoctrinating our citizens who are totally against this.”

2011: “We have a high percentage of blacks in prison, and that’s tragic, but are they in prison just because they are black or because they don’t want to study as hard in school? I’ve taught school, and I saw a lot of people of color who didn’t study hard because they said the government would take care of them.”

2011: “Women usually don't want to work as hard as a man... women tend to think a little bit more about their family, wanting to be at home more time, wanting to have a little more leisure time.”

2008: “Studies show no society that has totally embraced homosexuality has lasted, you know, more than a few decades. So it's the death knell in this country. I honestly think it’s the biggest threat our nation has, even more so than terrorism or Islam, which I think is a big threat... If you got cancer or something in your little toe, do you say, well, you know, I’m just going to forget about it because the rest of me is fine? It spreads. OK? And this stuff [homosexuality] is deadly, and it’s spreading, and it will destroy our young people, it will destroy this nation."

2008: “We're not teaching facts and knowledge any more, folks, we're teaching indoctrination, OK? And they [LGBT’s] are going after our young children, as young as two years of age, to try to teach them a homosexual lifestyle is an acceptable lifestyle.” In the same speech, Kern said gays are “infiltrating city councils” across the country. “It spreads, OK? And this stuff is deadly and it's spreading and it will destroy our young people. It will destroy this nation.”

Copyright 2015 The Gayly. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.