I’m stealing this from Ta-Nehisi Coates, who got it from fellow Atlantic Monthly writer Andrew Sullivan, who picked it up from Think Progress’ Ian Millhiser. Not exactly six degrees of separation but close enough for this morning. Here is Oklahoma Sen. Jim  Inhofe coming to the support of former Sen. Trent Lott, when Lott said if the country had elected a segregationist for the White House we would have avoided so many headaches (like the Voting Rights Act).

“In an effort to honor the life and service of Strom Thurmond, Senator Lott made some comments that he probably wishes he had phrased differently. I do not believe Senator Lott meant to be malicious or racist with the comments he made. I believe he was merely honoring a great American on his 100th birthday [...] I do not believe he harbors racist sentiments in his heart.”

A few days ago, when talking about now Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the Oklahoma senator had this to say:

“There is no other way you can interpret [Sotomayor's "wise Latina" speech]. She thinks that a woman with her experience can make a better conclusion than a white male – and to me, I consider that racist.”

Oh and by the way, Inhofe is certain of what is in Sotomayor’s heart even though he never talked to her. This logical dissonance is no surprise because the senior Oklahoma senator has made a career of kookiness for votes (no wonder he loves him some birthers).

Inhofe also gets tongue tied when the topic comes close to LGBT stuff . Who can forget this line in  2006 during the Federal Marriage Amendment debate?

“I’m really proud to say that in the recorded history of our family, we’ve never had a divorce or any kind of homosexual relationship.”

Oklahoma brothers and sisters: what’s the deal with your elected officials?

Yesterday we had two stories. The first was  about a  gay rights resolution passed by the National Education Association and the other covered some nuttiness spouted by Oklahoma lawmaker Sally Kern. The responses to both were disappointing and make me wonder if it’s time to stop reading our comment section.

Kern’s ramblings are silly. Few will dispute that; however, too many of the responses to Kern were sexist. Why people feel a need to call Kern out with language that only middle school boys use (or a certain gay gossip columnist)  is beyond reason. Please spare me any lines about how the revolution won’t be televised or whatever radical keyboard phrase people use now. It is possible to point out the large holes of logic in Kern’s diatribe without calling her names no one would ever call his/her grandmother. We gain nothing by taking down an opponent with sexist rhetoric. If you cannot be critical of Kern minus bigoted language, you and her are part of the problem. Both of you drink from the same well of ignorance.

As for the NEA resolution, the nation’s largest professional employee organization comes out for gay rights and says the marriage debate should be handled by the states. I guess if marriage rights is the only goal then the NEA is wobbly, but the organization’s resolution also asked for  “passage of a federal statute prohibiting federal discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity and expression.” That’s a huge get for gays and lesbians and we should hold it up proudly to our enemies. I’m sure it makes them gnash their teeth.

If you spent your day looking at the comments left here and other gay political sites, you would think our lives were pre-Stonewall . Should we be singing songs of jubilation? No. The stories of August Provost and Chad Gibson should remind us of the work that needs to be done; however, like columnist Dan Savage said after the California Supreme Court’s Prop 8 decision: we are winning. Sure it’s a long slog and there are setbacks, but we are winning. And if you know anything about this country’s history, people respond best to optimistic warriors.

Rep. Sally Kern said the U.S. is drifting from traditional Christian values as she sought signatures for her petition at a state Capitol rally attended by about 250 people including ministers and their followers, four other state lawmakers, and protesters who shouted “shame on you” and “hypocrite.”

“You are seeing a wonderful demonstration of intolerance,” the conservative Republican from Oklahoma City said of the hecklers.

Among other things, the proclamation says, “This nation has become a world leader in promoting abortion, pornography, same-sex marriage, sex trafficking, divorce, illegitimate births, child abuse and many other forms of debauchery.”

The proclamation declares the federal government “is forsaking the rich Christian heritage upon which this nation was built.”

Last year, gay and lesbian groups demanded Kern apologize after she told a political group that “the homosexual agenda is just destroying this nation” and poses a bigger threat to the United States than terrorism.

Mocking Michael Jackson in my mother’s house followed a routine. You could go on and wonder about his butchered face and some of his other  eccentricities. She would patiently listen and even smile at a good joke at the gloved one’s expense. But when she said the following line, all teasing had to end.

“Say what you want, but you can’t take away his talent.”

I imagine her in tears this week. She never met Jackson, didn’t attend any concerts, but kept her heart open for the kid from Gary, Indiana. Hard not to really.  She saw him grow up. Adored the  boy leading his older brothers and required silence  whenever they were on television. Took me to see The Wiz and only talked about his performance as the Scarecrow and  Lena Horne as Glinda (Happy birthday Ms. Horne).  When Thriller made him the King of Pop, she went along for the ride and showed a mother’s pride every time Jackson moon walked.

If she were still alive I would be on the dutiful search for mementos. She would be good enough to note any complaints about my errand boy status, but would be  gently insistent about what was to be purchased.  Of course his records would be getting played all the time–she left this world  proud of her Fisher stereo system. Not sure if this is more me than her, but I think she would wonder why Papa Jackson keeps talking when cameras are around.

Talking about the newly dead through the dead is an unseemly trick. I have my Jackson moments (loved his afro in Destiny), but they are neither visceral nor personal. His death only makes sense through the imagined prism of my mother’s reaction, but like Karl Marx quipped in the under appreciated novel the Oxherding Tale “truth is someone.”

A special plea to my Republican friends: listen it’s your party and you can elect whomever you care to, but if a GOP state representatives wants to issue a proclamation blaming the ills of the economy on gays and lesbians, it’s time to show the crazies the door.

From Keith Olbermann’s surprisingly emotional take on gay marriage to the musical that made us laugh, 2008 was the year that gay news made good video.

Here are our picks for the gay videos that made the most impact this year.

As always, we welcome your additions in the comments.

1. Prop 8: The Musical!

This sly, star-studded response to Prop 8 – starring Jack Black as Jesus – made the economic case for gay marriage in such a funny, subversive way, you can’t help but sing along.

2. Keith Olbermann: Gay marriage is a question of love

Keith Olbermann stunned viewers with his six-minute rant on why the Prop 8 vote was wrong, saying, “Why does this matter to you? What is it to you? In a time of impermanence and fly-by-night relationships these people over here want the same chance at permanence and happiness that is your option.”

Next page: Sally Kern…and Jon Stewart

Patrol spokeswoman Chris West said Republican Rep. Sally Kern was not charged because there did not appear to be any “malicious intent” behind her actions.

West said officers are allowed to “use their brains” when determining if an arrest should be made in such instances.

West also confirmed a second incident in which Kern made it into the building with a gun in June.

Kern complained earlier this year of receiving death threats after an audio clip was posted on YouTube in which she calls homosexuality a bigger threat to the U.S. than terrorism.

Guns and knives are prohibited in the Capitol and those who enter must pass through an airport-style security checkpoint, including a metal detector and an X-ray machine. It is a misdemeanor to bring a weapon inside.

Kern told The Associated Press Wednesday that both incidents were simple mistakes.

The first time, the weapon got through the security checkpoint, she said.

“I got all the way up to my office before I realized I had it, so I reported it,” she said.

On Wednesday, she said she forgot to take the .380 caliber semiautomatic handgun out of her purse after she stopped to talk to a colleague.

“It was an honest mistake from being out of my routine, you know,” she said.

Kern said she had a permit for the gun and had carried it long before the YouTube controversy.

Normally, I would dismiss this particular remark as a pathetic religious-right sympathy ploy. It’s hard to take seriously the persecution complex of a group that wields so much power, especially in places like Kern’s home state. In jeopardy for making homophobic comments in front of Oklahoma Republicans? Please.

Thanks to the marvel of YouTube, however, Kern’s rant received a much wider audience than she anticipated. Listeners all over the country heard Kern claim that “the homosexual agenda is destroying this nation,” that gays are indoctrinating our children, and that homosexuality poses a bigger threat to America “than terrorism or Islam, which I think is a big threat.”

Kern later claimed, rather implausibly, that her comments were taken out of context, and that she was talking about gays around the country who were contributing money to pro-gay candidates in Oklahoma and elsewhere.

I look forward to joining that group of gays. More precisely, I look forward to sending a big fat check to whatever decent candidate aims to unseat Kern in the next election cycle. I’m sure I’m not alone in that plan. So Kern’s remark about her speech putting her in jeopardy may have been surprisingly prescient. One can hope.

Unfortunately, Kern’s speech offered little else in the way of insight, unless we’re talking about insight into the fears, lies and stereotypes that dominate the religious right’s thinking about gays. Kern claimed that “studies show no society that has totally embraced homosexuality has lasted, you know, more than a few decades.”

I don’t know what “studies” Kern is referring to, but the claim is nonsense on its face. Can you name a now-extinct society that “totally embraced” homosexuality? Me neither.

Kern added that “This stuff is deadly and it’s spreading and it will destroy our young people; it will destroy this nation.”

I share Kern’s concern for our young people, which is one reason I’m eager to unseat her. I remember what it was like to hear such stereotypes as a teenager and to think, “No, no, no—that can’t be me.” I remember how ugly myths about homosexuality exacerbated my coming-out struggle. I don’t want other youths to suffer that.

Kern also claimed that homosexuality “has deadly consequences for those people involved in it; they have more suicides, they’re more discouraged, there’s more illness [and] their lifespans are shorter.”

Again we have unsubstantiated myths and outright falsehoods, this time mixed with a grain of truth. Who wouldn’t be “discouraged” in the face of attacks like Kern’s? Should anyone be surprised that in Kern’s world, gay people—and especially, gay youth—find that their lives are more difficult than others’?

In this respect, Kern behaves like a bully who punches a kid on the playground and then justifies his attack by saying that he’s troubled by his victim’s bleeding. Yes, Rep. Kern, gay youth are at a higher risk for suicide. But their problem is not homosexuality. Their problem is people like you.

I realize that such accusations of “bloody hands” don’t do much to promote dialogue. I have no doubt that Sally Kern is sincere in her beliefs. What’s more, some of those beliefs may even stem from virtuous motives—respect for tradition, concern for future generations, love of country and so on. But virtuous motives don’t make such beliefs any less false, ugly, or dangerous.

I’m particularly irritated—though by no means surprised—by Kern’s attempt to cloak her homophobia in religion. At one point in her original screed she opines that “Not everybody’s lifestyle is equal—just like not all religions are equal.” She’s right about that, too. I’d say that any religion that permits spreading lies or demonizing people because of whom they love is scarcely worthy of respect.

In the wake of this fiasco, Kern has complained that her critics want to deny her free speech. “Obviously, you have the right as an American to choose that lifestyle,” she said, “but I also have the right to express my views.”

Yes, Rep. Kern, you do. But free speech doesn’t give anyone a free pass to say stupid things without repercussions.