An Open Letter to Representative Sally Kern

I rarely write letters to politicians, especially Representatives from states outside my own. However, your comments regarding homosexuality at a recent gathering of Republicans have given me cause to write to you today.

First, I believe it is only fair that I give you some background information on myself. I am a twenty-four year old heterosexual male and a substitute high school teacher in suburban Cook County in Illinois. Education has always been a large part of my life and I have dedicated a substantial portion of my time, both during and since graduating college, towards education. In addition to substitute teaching, I am also the assistant coach of the mock trial team at one of the schools I work for. I love my job and I love the sense of satisfaction I receive from helping our nation's youth.

And, as an educator, I feel I have to come out and harshly condemn you for your words. I have witnessed firsthand how devastating harmful, degrading, offensive speech like your comments can be towards a young person. I have witnessed this not only as an educator, but as a friend to members of the gay and lesbian community. As a former teacher, you should be absolutely ashamed of yourself. Teachers are supposed to care about the youth, they are supposed to offer them a support system. I have known many exceptional teachers in my life, men and women who encouraged a shy, awkward teenage boy and taught him it is okay to be different from others. These men and women had such a profound impact on my life that I have decided to honor their influence by becoming a teacher myself.

You, Representative Kern, are no teacher. Your highly offensive, tactless comments called homosexuality a worse threat than terrorism. Have you ever considered how devastating those comments could be to a young person struggling with their sexuality? Did the thought of how people could react to those comments ever cross your mind? What about the people you represent in your district? What if someone heard your words and then committed a hate crime because homosexuals are a graver threat than terrorism? In public, you would no doubt condemn such actions. But in private, it is my firm belief you would condone them.

Among your hateful words, you claimed homosexuals have a higher rate of suicides. Did you ever wonder why that is? Being gay does not suddenly drive someone to suicide. No, what drives such a person to suicide is the complete and total rejection and condemnation of their lifestyle by friends, by family, by society as a whole. With your words, you are sending the message to millions of men and women that it's okay to hate someone because of their sexuality-you are telling families they are one hundred per cent correct in disowning gay children. You are justifying the taunts and abuses homosexual children must endure in our nation's public schools. And, in doing so, you are also responsible for those devastated children who commit suicide.

Representative Kern, I want to tell you a story about a young man named Matthew Shepard. Perhaps it's a story you have already heard. Matthew Shepard was a student at the University of Wyoming who was viciously attacked on October 7, 1998, simply because he was gay. Two men, Russell Henderson and Aaron McKinney posed as homosexuals and offered Matthew a ride. Matthew was then robbed, pistol-whipped and tortured by these two men before they tied him to a fence in a remote area and left him to die. Matthew suffered a fracture from the back of his head to the front of his right ear and had severe brain stem damage, damage which affected his body's ability to regulate heart rate, body temperature and other vital signs. These injuries were deemed too severe for doctors to even operate. Matthew never regained consciousness after the attack and he remained on life support until he died just a few days later. This was a vicious, brutal crime and words like yours lend support to crimes such as this.

The following is a list of young men and women killed in the modern-day United States because of their sexuality:

o Robert Opel - Gunshot to the head (1979)

o Charlie Howard - Beaten to death (1984)

o Rebecca Wight - Gunshots to the head and back (1988)

o James Zappalorti - Vietnam Veteran, fatally stabbed (1990)

o Pail Broussard - Beaten to death (1991)

o Brandon Teena - Raped and shot (1993)

o Scott Amedure - Shot (1995)

o Roxanne Ellis and Michelle Abdill - Shot (1995)

o PFC Barry Winchell - Massive head injury (1999)

o Gary Matson and Winfield Mowder - Shot several times (1999)

o Steen Fenrich - Dismembered (1999)

o Arthur "J.R." Warren - Beaten then run over repeatedly with a car (2000)

o Danny Overstreet - Shot when a Christian opened fire in a gay bar (2000)

o Fred Martinez - Beaten to death (2001)

o Nizah Morris - Killed by police officers (2002)

o Gwen Araujo - Viciously beaten and strangled (2002)

o Sakia Gunn - Stabbed (2003)

o Richie Phillips - Beaten to death and left in a suitcase (2003)

o Nireah Johnson - Shot in the head and then burned (2003)

o Glenn Kopitske - Shot at point-blank range (2003)

o Ronnie Paris - Three-year-old child beaten to death because his father feared he was gay (2005)

o Jason Gage - Bludgeoned to death with a bottle then stabbed in the neck with a glass shard (2005)

o Michael Sandy - Run over with a car (2006)

o Roberto Duncanson - Stabbed (2007)

o Sean William Kennedy - Fatal punch (2007)

o Lawrence King - Shot (2008)

These were gleaned from a simple Internet search and they barely scratch the surface of the number of hate crimes. There are a few things I would like you to keep in mind: many of these crimes were committed by people seeking out homosexuals to harm, many of them are brutal acts of violence, many of the murderers were Christian, and many of the victims were teenagers or young adults.

These crimes are the result of hate speech such as yours.

So Representative Kern, the next time you say that homosexuality is a greater threat to America than terrorism, I ask you to think about these young men and women who were viciously killed by people who support such statements. I want you to picture them and I want you to imagine what they had to endure before they shuffled this mortal coil.

Representative Kern, I am a tolerant man. I was raised to believe that all people should be treated equally and with respect and not suffer discrimination because of their gender, their religion, their race, or their sexuality. These values are a part of who I am, they are the values I instill in my students, and they are the values I will one day instill in my own children.

But madam, although there is much I can tolerate, the one thing I cannot tolerate is such flagrant, baseless hatred of a group of men and women who never harmed you. Representative Kern, you disgust me and I look forward to the day when you leave office. On that day, I will celebrate that the good people of Oklahoma need no longer suffer such a hateful, repulsive woman representing them.

Sincerely,

Percival C. Pollard