Tag: Oklahoma

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Viral Video: Oklahoma Fraternity Shut Down Over Racist Chant

The national office of Sigma Alpha Epsilon shut down a chapter at the University of Oklahoma when a video surfaced that showed members singing a racist chant:

UPDATE:

University of Oklahoma president Boren issued this statement on the scandal:

“To those who have misused their free speech in such a reprehensible way, I have a message for you. You are disgraceful.

“You have violated all that we stand for. You should not have the privilege of calling yourselves ‘Sooners.’ Real Sooners are not racist. Real Sooners are not bigots. Real Sooners believe in equal opportunity. Real Sooners treat all people with respect. Real Sooners love each other and take care of each other like family members.

“All of us will redouble our efforts to create the strongest sense of family and community,” Boren added. “We vow that we will be an example to the entire country of how to deal with this issue. There must be zero tolerance for racism everywhere in our nation.”

The members of SAE at OU were given until Tuesday night at midnight to gather their belongings and get out. Boren added that he doesn’t plan on helping the displaced residents find housing.

“That’s not our responsibility,” he said. “We don’t provide student services to bigots.” He added that he’d offer to pay the student’s busfare if it would help them leave the community faster.

The national SAE organization had this to say:

“We apologize for the unacceptable and racist behavior of the individuals in the video, and we are disgusted that any member would act in such a way,” the online statement read. “Furthermore, we are embarrassed by this video and offer our empathy not only to anyone outside the organization who is offended but also to our brothers who come from a wide range of backgrounds, cultures and ethnicities.”

I’m curious if anyone has identified any particular student in the video, and if so, what they might have to say on the incident. I always have a passing interest in how bigots justify their positions and behavior.

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Oklahoma Bill Would Ban State Employees From Issuing Same-Sex Marriage Licenses

Anti-gay Oklahoma Rep. Sally Kern

A bill currently before the Oklahoma state legislature would ban state officials from any activity which supported same-sex marriage. The legislation would

On Tuesday, HB 1599 successfully passed the House Judiciary and Civil Procedure Committee by a 5-3 vote. It now is headed to the full House.

The bill makes it illegal for any state employee to issue a marriage license to a same-sex couple. Punishments would include losing state pension, benefits and salary.

(via Huffington Post)

The bill is one of several in the Republican-dominated statehouse to impose restrictions on same-sex marriages that have been proposed after a U.S. federal judge last year ruled the state’s ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. The ban remains in effect pending an appeal.

The bill called the “Preservation of Sovereignty and Marriage Act” prohibits taxpayer funds, including government salaries, to be used for any activity that supports same-sex marriage. It also says that those who issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples can be subject to removal from office.

The bill’s author, Representative Sally Kern, a Republican, said the measure is a response to U.S. courts overstepping their authority by forcing Oklahoma to recognize gay marriage.

Representative Emily Virgin, a Democrat who voted against the measure in committee on Tuesday, said: “No other state in the union has seen more anti-LGBT legislation introduced during this legislative session. The battleground is right here in Oklahoma.”

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Oklahoma: State Rep. Todd Russ Seeks To Eliminate All Marriage Licenses In The State

Oklahoma State Rep. Todd Russ

Oklahoma state Rep. Todd Russ has introduced legislation – House Bill 1125 – that would end marriage licenses altogether in the state:

Under his plan, a religious official would sign a couple’s marriage certificate, which would then be filed with the clerk. Marriages would no longer be performed by judges. If a couple did not have a religious official to preside over their wedding, they could file an affidavit of common law marriage.

“Marriages are not supposed to be a government thing anyway,” he said Wednesday.

Since marriage equality came to Oklahoma last October, Oklahomans For Equality says 3,165 marriage licenses have been issued to same-sex couples.

Same-sex marriage is currently legal in 36 states and the District of Columbia.

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SCOTUS sees more requests for same-sex marriage appeals from Oklahoma and Virginia

Plenty of requests for the US Supreme Court regarding marriage equality today.

Lawyers for Oklahoma couple Mary Bishop and Sharon Baldwin have filed a request for SCOUTS to take up their case. The couple successfully sued Tulsa County Clerk Sally Howe Smith for refusing to issue a marriage license due to a state ban on same-sex marriage.

Last month the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a federal judges ruling that Oklahoma’s ban on marriage equality is unconstitutional.

Smith’s lawyers have already filed a similar appeal to SCOTUS earlier this month.

Over in Virginia, the American Foundation for Equal Rights have filed what is now the third request to SCOTUS regarding that state’s same-sex marriage ban.

“Forty-seven years ago, Mildred and Richard Loving passionately argued that the Supreme Court must end the unjust laws that dare to tell us who we can and cannot love,” said Plaintiffs’ lead co-counsel Ted Olson.

“Today, almost half a century later, it is time thousands of gay and lesbian couples across America are extended that same promise of equality and freedom that the Supreme Court granted to the Lovings. Our plaintiffs have already fought for, in two separate courts, a constitutional promise they have been denied. Now, the Supreme Court must take up the Bostic case, answer once and for all the surpassingly important constitutional question of marriage equality, and rule decisively in favor of the fundamental right to marry for every same-sex couple.”

Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring and the Alliance Defending Freedom (acting for the Norfolk County Clerk) had both recently filed similar requests for review.

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GOP US Senator: Some Of Fox News “Totally Not Fair And Totally Not Balanced”

As part of his farewell tour to the state, GOP Oklahoma Sen. Tom Coburn called some shows on Fox News “totally not fair and totally not balanced,” referencing the network’s “fair and balanced” slogan.

“The truth is somewhere in between the three,” Corbun said of MSNBC, CNN, and Fox News.

“There are certain shows on Fox I can’t watch,” Coburn said. “Because they’re totally not fair and totally not balanced. I want all the information if which I can make the best decision.”

The senator is retiring this year in part due to a recurrence of prostate cancer.

Coburn was responding to a question about how he would “fix” media to focus on less superficial things if he was in charge of it. He said he also reads the New York Times and Wall Street Journal saying “the real problem is we’ve lost the professionalism of journalism.”

(via Buzzfeed)

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10th Circuit Court of Appeals says Oklahoma same-sex marriage ban unconstitutional

Today the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit issued a historic ruling affirming the January 2014 decision from U.S. District Judge Terence Kern in Bishop v. Smith that Oklahoma’s constitutional amendment barring marriage for same-sex couples violates the U.S. Constitution.

The 2-1 decision was authored by Judge Carlos Lucero, who was joined by Judge Jerome Holmes – a President George W. Bush appointee.

From the majority decision:

“Facts and arguments presented in this case differ in some respects from those in Kitchen. But our core holdings are not affected by those differences. State bans on the licensing of same-sex marriage significantly burden the fundamental right to marry, and arguments based on the procreative capacity of some opposite-sex couples do not meet the narrow tailoring prong.”

The ruling comes after the same panel ruled June 25 that Utah’s ban on same-sex marriage violates the Constitution. It was the first time an appellate court determined last year’s U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down the Defense of Marriage Act means states cannot deny gays the ability to wed.

The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel put its Oklahoma and Utah rulings on hold pending an appeal. Utah’s attorney general has said he plans to appeal to the Supreme Court.

You can read the entire ruling below:

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Oklahoma politician supports stoning gays to death

Scott Esk, a Tea Party candidate for Oklahoma’s State House, was found on Facebook advocating that homosexuals should be stoned to death, and that to “ignore as a nation things worthy of death would be very remiss.”

And when challenged by his Facebook friend if he indeed believes that homosexuals should be put to death, and Esk responds, “I think we would totally be in the right to do it.”

In a subsequent interview, he stood by his Facebook opinions regarding stoning gays.

Don’t worry though. It’s not just gays that Esk isn’t fond of.

On November 25th of last year, Esk posted on his Facebook  that he felt moved to call 911 when he saw a group of Hispanics gathered in front of a shopping mall. He was surprised when the dispatcher kept asking what crime was bring committed and he replied that he assumed there were in the US illegally.

Explains a lot about him I think.

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Oklahoma: New ad for marriage equality from Freedom To Marry

Freedom Oklahoma is a project of The Equality Network and represents a broad and diverse coalition of state and national organizations, faith, business and civil leaders and everyday Oklahomans who are joining together to support the freedom to marry.

The new, statewide public education campaign will work to broaden the conversation about why marriage matters to all couples and their families.

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United Nations to US: Stop death penalty after botched Oklahoma execution

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has asked the United States to place a moratorium on all executions:

The suffering of Clayton Lockett during his execution in Oklahoma on Tuesday 29th April, may amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment according to international human rights law. It also appears to run counter to the 8 th Amendment of the United States Constitution, which states that “…nor cruel and unusual punishment [shall be] inflicted.” We note that the execution of a second man in Oklahoma, scheduled later on Tuesday, was stayed by the Governor, who has ordered a review of execution procedures and protocols.

The prolonged death of Clayton Lockett is the second case of apparent extreme suffering caused by malfunctioning lethal injections reported in 2014 in the United States. The other case was that of Dennis McGuire, executed by the State of Ohio on 16 January 2014 with an allegedly untested combination of drugs.

The UN Human Rights Committee and the Committee against Torture have both previously called on the United States to review its execution methods in order to prevent severe pain and suffering. Most recently, in March 2014, the Human Rights Committee recommended the US ensure that lethal drugs used for executions originate from legal, regulated sources, and are approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The apparent cruelty involved in these recent executions simply reinforces the argument that authorities across the United States should impose an immediate moratorium on the use of the death penalty and work for abolition of this cruel and inhuman practice. Thirty-two out of 50 states in the US still have the death penalty in their laws (in addition to the US government and the US military). Eighteen states in the US have abolished the death penalty, most recently Maryland in 2013 and Connecticut in 2012.

The UN opposes the use of the death penalty in all circumstances.

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Tenth Circuit Court to hear oral arguments for Oklahoma marriage equality

On Thursday, April 17 at 10am MT, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit will hear oral arguments in Bishop v. Smith, the landmark case that seeks the freedom to marry for same-sex couples in Oklahoma. 


In January 2014, a federal judge struck down Oklahoma’s ban on marriage for same-sex couples, and the state has appealed the ruling to the 10th Circuit. 

This case, which had been waiting for its day in court for nearly a decade, is historic — and it could very well be what brings the freedom to marry not just to Oklahoma but to every state in the 10th Circuit (including Colorado, Kansas, Utah and Wyoming) and possibly the nation, should it face consideration by the U.S. Supreme Court.