April 17, 2008
The Bahamas Gets It, and Now Oklahoma is Getting It (Hiya, Sally Kern!)
Last October, I mentioned that The Bahamas was (were?) finally started to wake up to the reality that if you treat homos like garbage, homos won’t spend their vacation dollars in your island/country/town.
It ain’t rocket science.
Of course, not too many homo-haters in this country, the Grand Ol’ U.S. of A., are even close to rocket scientists. Sally Kern — about whom Buffy has written extensively on The Gaytheist Agenda — would be lucky to pass a course in the Science of Tying One’s Shoes.
Luckily, Oklahoma is not filled with Sally Kerns (although we do question the very humanity of the dipsticks stupid — or just hateful — enough to vote for her), and is beginning to understand that homophobic hatred could cost the Sooner State some serious money.
Not that we Sneaky Homosexual Agendaists were planning to descend en masse and rename the place Oklahomo; no, it’s this, via The Journal-Record:
OKC Chamber: Kern spooks big biz relocation consultantOKLAHOMA CITY — A San Francisco Bay-area financial services company has not yet ruled out Oklahoma City for a major office relocation, a vice president of a real estate search firm confirmed. A decision is expected in three to four weeks.
But Tom Maloney, vice president of California-based Staubach Co., would neither confirm nor deny that the 1,000-employee, AAA-rated client company’s top executive is a lesbian who expressed concern over Oklahoma Rep. Sally Kern’s recent anti-homosexual statements, as has been the topic circulating among local business leaders.
Roy Williams, president of the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber, said the issue is a major concern the chamber is trying to address. He confirmed a Staubach consultant was troubled by Kern’s comments during a recent visit to the city.
“He told us straight up … ‘I cannot recommend to any of my clients that they should consider Oklahoma City because of that,’” Williams said. “When you have one of the nation’s premier relocation experts making those statements, you should pay attention to that and not dismiss it.
“And that’s immediately what happened: People said, ‘Well, then tell them not to come here.’ …”
At the Commerce Department, Business Services Deputy Director Sandy Pratt said … Kern’s comments have not been raised as a concern: “It did not come up in any of the governor’s economic development team meetings with consultants or discussions we’ve had with consultants,” Pratt said. …
As for Kern’s comments, “They no doubt send a message out there that no city wants to send, and that is one of divisiveness instead of unitedness,” [Williams] said. For the last five years, the chamber has made a greater effort “to embrace differences and embrace diversity, to build a community that is open and welcoming to anyone.”
Well, that’s a very nice sentiment, Mr. Williams, but while Oklahoma City may be “open and welcoming to anyone,” the state of Oklahoma is very much stuck in the Dark Ages, thanks to your constitutional ban on marriage equality.
Sally Kern aside — and seriously, who is Sally Kern but just another dunderheaded bigot who’s done us the favor of showing the public just how mean and stupid homophobes can be? Sally Kern is a flyspeck in the cosmos. It’s the people of Oklahoma — the ones who decided to legislate their own gay and lesbian neighbors into permanent second-class citizenship — who are the problem. It’s nearly impossible to comprehend that the marriage ban isn’t Staubach’s biggest concern: Staubach’s LGBT employees will have no rights in Oklahoma.
Interestingly, Indianapolis is also on Staubach’s list of potential new homes. Wake up, Staubach — Indiana is hardly better than Oklahoma; aside from the fact that Indiana refuses to recognize any same-sex marriage, civil union, or domestic partnership established in another state, and aside from the fact that a state constitutional ban on marriage equality failed in February, the issue is far from dead: Both houses of the state legislature favor a ban, and there’s an ongoing push to put the issue to the voters. And (especially when you consider that over the past seven years, only one state, Arizona, was able to beat back a marriage amendment) you know what that means; to paraphrase Benjamin Franklin (and mix in a little Ayn Rand), when you allow the majority to vote on the rights of a minority, you’ve got two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch.
Staubach, you need to reconsider this move. I’m assuming you want to leave California because it would be cheaper to do business somewhere else.
But you’ve got to ask yourselves which is more important: money, or doing the right thing.
Meh, I know: It’s business. And money always trumps the right thing.
Permalink | Trackback | Category: Caribbean, Employment/ENDA, Hate Speech, Indiana, Marriage Equality, Oklahoma, United States
