Doug Shields Responds

From today's P-G:

Pittsburgh City Council President Doug Shields may introduce a resolution condemning an Oklahoma state representative's comments that included Pittsburgh in a list of cities gays are "infiltrating."

Yesterday, Mr. Shields said the resolution would likely be less strident than an e-mail he sent to Rep. Sally Kern, whose comparisons of homosexuals to terrorists have made national news. Mr. Shields called her "the new national poster-child for hate, intolerance and terroristic homophobia."

Someone recorded remarks Ms. Kern made to a group of 50 fellow Republicans a few weeks ago, and they emerged online this week.

Like on this blog.

For those who have yet to see Council President Shields' whole e-mail, Sue has it posted here. In it he wrote:

As the President of the Council of the City of Pittsburgh, I require an apology from you for your senseless, mean spirited attack on one my colleagues and the Council as a whole. I would think, should you take the time to reflect upon your hateful, bigoted words. An apology is also in order to the GLBT community, their families and their friends. Short of a a miracle, I do not expect that you will. I find persons of your ilk completely blind to your ignorance. [italics in original]

Melissa Meinzer, over at City Paper had this to say:

Bruce Kraus, Pittsburgh's first openly gay councilor, has been on council less than three months. But he has a lot more sway than he may have realized.

Or so says Oklahoma state Rep. Sally Kern. By now, almost everyone has heard, or heard about, her anti-gay rant. In remarks Kern made in January that were posted on YouTube, Kern says that "the homosexual agenda is destroying this nation, okay, it's just a fact. Not all lifestyles are equal, just like not all religions are equal."

During the diatribe, which Kern has said were taken from a series of public appearances, she calls out our fair city of Pittsburgh as an example of a place where gays -- who Kern calls "the biggest threat that our nation has, even more so than terrorism or Islam, which I think is a big threat -- are taking over.

"Gays are infiltrating city councils," Kern says. "Have you heard that the city council of Eureka Springs is controlled by gays? There are others: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania."

At the bottom of the page promises more in the next issue of City Paper. Perhaps my friend Sue is right, and I broke this story here in town, (I think so, but I can't be sure). If she's right, then remember you read it here first.

:-)