Oklahoma's Middle Finger to Hate Crimes Legislation

by Michael Jones · 2010-03-11 09:01:00 UTC
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OklahomaDo you suppose Oklahoma and Virginia are in a competition to see which state can be more anti-gay these days? If so, Oklahoma may have just taken the lead.

While Virginia continues to receive massive flak for trying to make it hunky-dory for state agencies to fire people because they're gay, one Oklahoma State Senator, Steve Russell, is trying to get his state to pass a law that would make Oklahoma exempt from adhering to the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. That Act, passed by the U.S. Congress last year and signed into law by President Obama, adds sexual orientation and gender identity (among several other categories) to existing federal hate crimes laws.

See, State Sen. Steve Russell has a problem with federal law recognizing sexual orientation and gender identity. For him, laws that try to curb hateful violence toward LGBT people go a little too far toward recognizing the dignity of the country's gay and lesbian population. And he wants his state -- which bans gay marriage but ironically leads the nation in heterosexual divorce -- to be able to opt-out of the federal law.

Illegal? Probably. Homophobic? Absolutely.

But you do have to hand it to State Sen. Russell -- the man knows how to manipulate the legislative process in order to cater to his homophobic beliefs. Yesterday he gutted a bill that would have created a task force to study the Oklahoma Secondary School Activities Association, and inserted language that would exempt Oklahoma from federal investigations into hate crimes committed on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

Essentially, according to NewsOK, state law enforcement agencies "would not be required to share investigative files with federal agencies" investigating hate crimes. Which would mean that if the federal government were to ask a District Attorney's office for files on a case that might allegedly involve a hate crime against someone because they're gay, the D.A.'s office would be allowed to say no under Oklahoma state law. Of course, saying no to federal authorities in a federal investigation is perhaps tantamount to obstruction of justice, which means that essentially, Oklahoma State Senators passed a piece of legislation that would require Oklahoma law enforcement officials to break the law.

All because State Sen. Russell really doesn't like queer people.

As Maia Spotts wrote here a few months ago, State Sen. Russell has tried to make the case that necrophilia could be akin to sexual orientation, and he has continually tried to twist and misinform voters about federal hate crimes laws.

What's scary is that his efforts worked. At least they did last night, in the Oklahoma State Senate, where his bill passed by a vote of 39-6. Yowsa.

Now who else is wondering how Virginia might top this brazen act of homophobia?

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons

Michael Jones is a Change.org Editor. He has worked in the field of human rights communications for a decade, most recently for Harvard Law School.
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