After the recent story about conservatives in the Oklahoma legislature debating whether the government should be allowed to intrude on traditional marriage (while having zero problem with the government intruding on same sex relationships) here comes another stunner from the state.
Now, Republican Senator Steve Russell has taken a bill aimed at looking into secondary school education and inserted language to exempt Oklahoma from complying with the recently signed federal hate crimes bill. Basically, it would allow the state to not only ignore the federal law, but to destroy records in hate crimes cases which did not end in conviction.
From Russell…
"We just don’t want the pendulum to swing too far the other way,” he said. "This protects people to do or say whatever they want, as long as it complies with local ordinances.”
The bill has already passed the Oklahoma senate by 39-6 and now heads to the House.
It’s bad enough that the courts aren’t stepping in when the established equality of LGBT Americans is simply voted away by the populace, as in Maine, but now are we going to see the states literally thumbing their noses at FEDERAL laws, just to protect and continue to enshrine BIGOTRY into our lives? Why does the law only apply to heterosexuals where they "feel" it should apply, while the rest of us are daily being restricted more and more.
This country is in real trouble.
