As the rest of the world was entering the 21st Century, Oklahoma, its capitol city in particular, was being dragged kicking and screaming into the 20th. There have been instances that show the state might eventually catch up, but with each positive sign, something happens that pulls the state backward.
Classen Boulevard is a major North-South thoroughfare in the city, and in the early days of the city the cable car company owned by the land speculators had a network of tracks laid down all through the major parts of the central city for real estate advertising purposes.
The various routes would all converge toward the south end of Classen and from this terminal take the people to the lake at the North end of the city whose waters generated the electricity to run the system. While the obvious purpose was to get to the lake to enjoy the beaches, the dance hall, and other family oriented amusements there, the subliminal reason for the ride was to take people past all the land owned by the cable company owners that was available for purchase. The layout of the city beyond the downtown area was largely built along the cable car tracks. In more recent times the tracks have long since been removed and replaced with the Boulevard that has three lanes of traffic going in either direction separated by a wide island of land, where the tracks had been, running for much of its length.
There are light poles on this island lighting the North and South roadways from which banners are hung to celebrate various events throughout the year.
One year, to commemorate GLBT Pride Month, a GLBT advocacy group had followed the required procedure and was granted permission by the electric company which controls the poles to hang celebratory banners on them.
The banners were sponsored by individuals, groups, and companies, and along with stating it was GLBT Pride Month (Gay Pride Month in those days) each banner had the name of the sponsor and a rainbow based design with nothing lewd or suggestive about them.
In spite of the procedures having been followed and the decision that the banners followed the requirements for acceptance, the mayor, Kirk Humphreys, had the banners removed because he did not want the attendees at an upcoming convention of Baptist ministers to be held in the city to get the idea that the city supported its GLBT citizens.
Religion trumped tax paying citizens.
Although initially reluctant to do so, but later taking credit for a quick response, the advocacy group took the mayor to court after three gentlemen, Edward Kromer, Paul Bashline, and Bill Rogers, a lawyer who in the 1980s had won a decision in the State Supreme Court that established that it was illegal to fire a teacher simply because he or she was Gay as opposed to the teacher having performed a lewd act in the presence of students, thereby making it safe for GLBT teachers to perform their job without fear, insisted the action be taken.
The court ruled against the mayor’s action, and, although the mayor had used city funds to remove the banners, the advocacy group paid for their being rehung.
It was clear that the mayor had an anti-Gay animus toward a large population within his city.
At one point, the mayor became the interim president of the city’s school board when a political action had taken place among school administrators to remove the superintendent who had publicly revealed that there was some possible corruption within the district and would not go quietly unless the president of the board also stepped down.
The plan was to have Humphreys take the interim position and then get voted in as president, and it became clear by later actions involving a proposed charter school to be built in the heart of the city in which he had a financial involvement, that Humphreys had plans to financially benefit from this.
Along with others, the GLBT Community organized to guarantee that when the election for the Board President came around Humphreys would not win, and he didn’t.
The present positions held by the former mayor are chairman of the OG&E Energy Corp. board of directors, CEO and chairman of the board of the Humphreys Company, a real estate development firm, chairman of the board of John Rex Charter Elementary School in Oklahoma City, and member of the Board of Regents of Oklahoma University having been appointed in 2012 by Governor Mary Fallin.
Both in his past position as interim president of the Oklahoma City Public Schools Board and now as a regent of a college, he has had under his care GLBT students whose welfare and education he is supposed to safeguard.
However his anti-GLBT animus is not only still there, but it takes some very odd forms.
There is a show on Sunday mornings on the local NBC affiliate, Flashpoint, where two moderators with different political views have guests on, usually two people representing opposing views on common subjects. The hosts ask questions based on their own take on a subject, and each guest states and discusses their views, and, more often than not the discussions result in a balanced coverage of a topic.
Kirk Humphreys is one of the regular hosts.
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This past Sunday the topic of the present series of sexual assaults in Washington was discussed, and, of course, Roy Moore was included.
In making his case that the decline of morality in the United States was the result of the acceptance of GLBT people, Kirk Humphreys backed up his opinion by equating being Gay with being a pedophile, a long debunked assumption, and comparing the allegations of sexual assault against members of congress and the allegations that Roy Moore pursued underage girls with Barney Frank being Gay.
The guest was State Representative Emily Virgin, and the topic being discussed was the #MeToo movement and the recent resignations of members of congress who have been accused of sexual assault.
From out of left field Humphreys asked,
“So, you are asserting that there is a right and a wrong and that people’s personal behavior matters in their public standing? And yet you defend Barney Frank”.
Barney Frank was not accused of anything let alone sexual assault.
Humphreys continued,
“Barney Frank, I mean, is homosexuality right or wrong? It’s not relative. There’s a right and a wrong. If it’s OK. It’ okay for everybody. And quite frankly, it’s okay for a man to sleep with little boys”.
This is absolutely not connected in any way to Barney Frank. He, unlike Roy Moore, was never accused by any minor or any adult who had been a minor of making sexual advances or taking any invasive action with one.
Then Representative Virgin , obviously taken a little aback by this, and later admitting that she had been caught so off guard that she knows that her response should have been stronger, replied with.
“I am unclear at what Barney Frank did other than be a homosexual. Are you saying there is some inappropriate conduct on his part?”
Not answering the question other than to make an implication, the former mayor answered,
“I’m saying there is a standard of right and wrong. It’s not all relative.”
As a result of the outcry to this, most demanding he be removed from his various education related positions, the former mayor issued a statement that was one of those “I get to say what I want and get away with it by issuing a false apology, and if you do not accept it, you are the one who is the bad guy” apologies.
“I apologize for my lack of clarity and realize this has resulted in a strong reaction by some and has hurt people’s feelings.
“For clarification, my moral stance about homosexuality is that it is against the teachings of Scripture. Although, I know that upsets some people, it is my belief. In America, we have the right to believe as we choose and to freely express that belief.”
First, it did not “hurt people’s feelings. It insulted people and demeaned them as being something they are not, and we GLBT people will not accept that.
And, secondly, he meant it. He repeated it. He held to it. He did not misspeak. He was not accidentally unclear.
This is a man who should not be allowed to have any position that relates to students of any age as among them will be those to whom he has a moral objection, and he may deal with them according to that. He may also treat them and their educational needs as less than deserving as they are to him the same as pedophiles, and he may dismiss them as unworthy of any dignity.