well, words have koconsequens and history says that they are used for discrimination and bullying, but the unfortunate reality is that oftentimes the statements that are made by our leaders whether they be religious leaders or elected officials are given increased credibility and great weight. and they are certainly not a helpful way for further discussion on the real barriers that gay and transgendered americans face in everyday life, and so the unfortunate part is that these kinds of statements lead to the fact that gays and lesbians can still be fired in 35 states across our country simply for their sexual orientation, or in 41 states for their gender identity. there is also an epidemic of bullying across the country, and we believe that there is a responsibility on our part to call out the statements by representative kern and others like her as not only inaccurate, but as being incredibly
responsibility to speak out on behalf of the state and the state s elected official and specifically to say that representative kern s statements are not in keeping with the good people of oklahoma. the factual record of what she is saying, they have a responsibility to correct and we as fair-minded americans and as activists on behalf of gay and transgendered americans have a responsibility to call out this behavior and make sure that americans who may be listening and people across the country who may be listening know that the statements are not only not accurate, but they are certainly not helpful to a real discourse about the barriers that gay and transgendered americans face. fred seanez from the hrc, and we appreciate your coming on to talk about this this morning. thank you. we want to take you to the tape playback of president obama meeting with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. let s listen. and the united states
injurious to a civil dialogue in this country about the barriers to equality. and yes, thomas, i do believe that they are the equivalent of hate speech. because they do serve as the basis for discrimination, and oftentimes they lead to very real consequences in our society. and that is why hrc has launched a project called call it out and in order to call out the statements of this kind by officials that really are in positions of great trust, because we deserve better as americans, and certainly the constituents in representative kern s district in oklahoma deserve better from her. and fred, i wanted to say that we are trying to educate our kids to treat everybody with respect and treat everybody with tolerance, but fortunately we have situations like jamie s situation, the young man who committed suicide, who at the one-year of tyler clemente, the rutger s student, and tomorrow