Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Congratulations Oregon! Oklahoma has Sally Kern, and we have Senator Gary George

This is not a proud Oregon moment. This won't make the lists of "Best places to live" or "Best states to travel to." Oh no. This will help land us in the most bigoted state catagory. These lovely quotes come from an elected Oregon official:

"If I discriminate in favor of you it automatically requires I discriminate against someone else. I was hoping with your generation we can stop calling each other 'asian-american,' or 'latino-american...' ...I have dear dear friends in the legislature who are black but sometimes I really get tired of hearing about their color."
Do you try yawning everytime they talk? See how that goes, Senator. Let me know.

"My advice to the gay community is SHUT UP, just don't talk about it. If you walk around talking about what you do in the bedroom, you should be on the pervert channel."

Hmm. I wonder what channel the pervert channel is on. Someone call Comcast, stat!

But here's my favorite...
"If you do feel like you've been discriminated against as a gay, you have hard feelings. I remember when I was heavy and wore glasses as a child and I was picked on. We all know the gay person that nobody notices - I think that is where we need to head. Everybody knows where the line is, so when I see I'm offending someone, I have to back away from that. We have to adjust our behavior so as to not be offensive. If you push anyone too hard, they will react.

My plea to the gay community would be, hey, mature."

Okay, Senator George, thanks for those pearls of wisdom. We need to mature, even as gay teens are being murdered and you want to support the firing of gays in the workplace. That's inspiring! Go Oregon!

For more of this amazing interview—and hats off to the newest reporter at Just Out, Stephen Marc Beaudoin for capturing these hateful words during his nearly hour long interview with this fine, elected official—to to Blog Out.

12 comments:

witchtrivets said...

All I can say is "you shut up Senator George, you hateful, racist, xenophobic, homophobic weenie." So he thinks everyone who is not a straight, white man like himself better stay in their place and not complain about discrimination. You know what that makes me want to do? Be even louder and more aggressive in fighting for my basic civil rights as a human being. And BTW, I don't know anyone who gets the pervert channel in Oregon. Must only be offered as part of the cable package to right wing lunatic politicians.

Karolcooks said...

Man, it's so hard to be white and straight. I mean, GOD. I was a fat nerd with glasses and I grew up with that as a boundary.

Ya, George. I grew up with a teacher who told me I had to be an example for my race. What does an eleven year old say to that? One of those times you wish you could go back with your adult brain and sass those who thought they were better than you. How can we shame this guy?
UGH. Double Ugh. I can't believe he's made me want to shame him. Stooping to his level...

Maggie said...

I never would wish anyone to be 'the person that nobody notices'.

Don't start now.

Random and Odd said...

Jesus! ARE YOU SERIOUS?

What the hell is happening in our world???
/sidenote
My friend writes for just out.

Rozanne said...

Wow, in addition to being a bigot, he's a numskull. What an embarrassment to our state.

Anonymous said...

It's pathetic that this kind of speech still happens in this day and age.

Let's all wish Gary George and Sally Kern the same rewards that Anita Bryant earned with her hate remarks... bankruptcy, repudiation, and the end of a career

Anonymous said...

Oh, and in honor of Ms. Kern and her ilk...

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3051/2327909489_2da161ffc9.jpg

A Lewis said...

I've been saying this for a while now, but I think we're on the brink of heading backwards as a state, nation, world. I think that we could go right back to women not being able to vote, Catholics not being able to marry Protestants, Confederates not being able to marry Unioners, prohibition, and a whole lot of other atrocities. I'm really nervous. It's becoming more and more frequent and virulent. I think that the year 2008 isn't as far down the trail as we'd like to think it is.

bridgeout said...

What a sad STATE of affairs. I am just heart sick about it all! it is like they build up more steam with each hate and fear filled step they take. Talk about "two steps forward and eight steps back" for Oregon!

SassyFemme said...

WTF, are the biggoted asses in public office having their own version of a coming out party?

Anonymous said...

What frightens me most is the nothingness of his "arguments".

"If I discriminate in favor of you it automatically requires I discriminate against someone else."

May I see your algorithm for that one?

"If you do feel like you've been discriminated against as a gay, you have hard feelings."

Nicely put. Clear. Thoughtful.

"If you walk around talking about what you do in the bedroom, you should be on the pervert channel."

What the hell does that mean?

My favorite, "I have dear friends...who are black...I get really tired of hearing about their color."

Senator, I bet they're a little more tired of it than you.

My advice to the senator, take a logic class, a public speaking class, and a trip to hell.

Oregonian37 said...

Well, you can at least say one thing for the truly ignorant haters. They eventually show themselves for the devolved fools that they are, which more often than not, tends to be the beginning of the end for them. Even the ones who feel the same as this dink usually get more upset about the negative publicity reflected back on them, which keeps them from being able to operate in the shadows.

I don't think that we are slipping backwards. Our progress always comes in spurts and lurches. It takes the ones who don't back down and don't shut up, to keep that backwards movement from happening.