Rinehart

Let us hope Oklahoma County Commissioner Brent Rinehart’s loss in Tuesday’s primary election signals a new distaste among some Republican voters here for the state’s motley crew of gay-bashing politicians.

Rinehart, a Republican who represents District 2, was only able to collect 21 percent of the vote Tuesday. His opponents, Brian Maughan, who received 47 percent of the vote, and J.D. Johnston, who received 31 percent of the vote, will face each other in an upcoming Republican runoff.

Rinehart, pictured right, recently made national headlines when he self-published a comic book that disparaged gay people and attacked Oklahoma County Sheriff John Whetsel, Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson, and Oklahoma Corporation Commissioner Jim Roth, a former county commissioner who happens to be gay. Rinehart appeared on national television shows defending his freaky comic book after a public outcry. His anti-gay tirade and appearances on the shows embarrassed the state.

The commissioner’s comic book, crudely drawn and poorly written, promotes a politics of hate, intolerance and scapegoating, echoing a political tradition of gay bashing in the state. Politicians such as State Rep. Sally Kern and U.S. Sens. Jim Inhofe and Tom Coburn, all Republicans, have also participated in disparaging gay people and the so-called, mythical “homosexual agenda” as way to misinform voters and win votes.

Does Rinehart’s poor performance in the primary election mean that a growing number of Republican voters are tired of the politics of gay hate and bigotry? Obviously, Rinehart had other problems going into the election. He faces a trial in September on felony charges that allege he illegally funded his 2004 campaign. But it is encouraging that Republicans did not rally around the gay-bashing Rinehart as they did when Kern was taped arguing that gay people are worse than terrorists. Change in cultural attitudes often comes slow in Oklahoma, but it does eventually arrive.

(Isn't it time Oklahoma college students get a break on rising tuition rates? Read DocHoc's commentary this week in the Oklahoma Gazette.)

“…lesbianism is so rampant in some of the schools in southeast Oklahoma that they’ll only let one girl go to the bathroom.”—U.S. Senator Tom Coburn during his 2004 campaign

“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.”—U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe on the Senate floor, June 6, 2006

“I honestly think it’s [homosexuality] the biggest threat that our nation has, even more so than terrorism or Islam, which I think is a big threat.”—State Rep. Sally Kern’s comments posted on Youtube, March 7, 2008

“It sounds to me that Brent’s political enemies like the homosexuals and liberal good ol’ boy politicians have tried to criminalize everything he’s done.”—from a 2008 reelection “comic book” prepared by Oklahoma County Commissioner Brent Rinehart

Oklahoma County Commissioner Brent Rinehart, who faces a trial on felony charges, says he is going to use a self-written comic book disparaging gay people as campaign material in his reelection bid.

In the comic book (you can access it here), an angel and Satan battle over, well, the righteousness of Rinehart’s campaign. The angel is on Rinehart’s side. (No, I’m not making this up.) Rinehart targets gay people and his supposed political enemies, such as Oklahoma Attorney General Drew Edmondson.

Rinehart, a Republican, pictured right, faces felony charges for allegedly participating in the illegal funding of his 2004 campaign, according to media reports. The trial on the charges is slated for September.

Rinehart, who said he plans to mail the comic book to voters, told a reporter for The Oklahoman: "The history of my office is that I do expose the homosexual agenda, and that it does exist in the state of Oklahoma, and my history also would show that I am very much opposed to the homosexual agenda.”

The comic book is bizarre and hateful. It reeks of misguided paranoia. It is poorly written and poorly drawn. It is an Okie spectacle on a grand level, and it has already made national news. Here we have an Oklahoma county commissioner, who is facing felony charges, putting together an anti-gay comic book in order to convince people to vote for him.

But the larger issue here is Oklahoma’s corporate media outlets and most state leaders have allowed prominent Republican politicians to consistently scapegoat gay people. These prominent politicians, such as U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, do so without any real penalty in terms of media support. (Read the above quotes and follow the links.) They, in turn, create the dark, hateful un-cultural milieu that gives rise to Rinehart’s and Kern’s anti-gay rants. This damages the state’s image. It teaches our children hate and intolerance.

To its credit, The Oklahoman has editorialized against state Rep. Sally Kern’s recent controversial remarks about gay people. It also published an editorial criticizing Rinehart’s comic book. It provided a pdf file of the comic book as a download. But it is simply not enough.

Until the prominent political extremists, such as Republicans Inhofe and Coburn—not just the small-timers, such as Rinehart and Kern—are held accountable by the corporate media structure and other state leaders here, the gay scapegoating will continue. This means the corporate media must vehemently oppose politicians, regardless of their party affiliation or stances on issues, who disparage gay people out of bigotry and hate. Only in this way can the state restore its current national image as a place of hatred and intolerance.