Zach Wyatt's courageous stand shames Missouri House leaders
Barb ShellySomething good has actually resulted from Missouri Rep. Steve Cookson’s horrible proposal that the state of Missouri ban discussion of sexuality in public schools.
Cookson’s bill, and the backlash to it, prompted state Rep. Zach Wyatt, a Republican from the Kirksville area, to publicly disclose that he is gay. Incredibly, he is thought to be the only openly gay Republican serving in any state legislature in the nation.
Wyatt, a 27-year-old Air Force veteran and cattle farmer, denounced Cookson’s legislation, which would have banned gay-straight alliance groups in schools and prohibited students and teachers from having a frank discussion about respecting differences centered on sexuality.
“Today I ask you to stand with me as a proud Republican, a proud veteran and a proud gay man who wants to protect all kids addressing bullying in our schools,” Wyatt said at a news conference.
He said he only recently acknowledged to himself that he was gay, and told his family and close friends, whom he said were “very, very supportive.”
Cookson, of Fairdealing in southeast Missouri, said in an interview this week that he considers homosexuality to be a sin. He isn’t backing down, though he acknowledges the chances of getting his bill passed this session are remote.
He said the legislation only seeks to keep any discussion of sexual orientation out of the classroom and doesn’t specifically mention homosexuality. Schools should focus on core subjects like math and science and leave everything else to parents, he said.
He has said that he considers discussions of sexuality in schools to be “social engineering.”
It’s not really unusual for legislators to push bills promoting their social and religious beliefs, which is what I think prompted Cookson. The reason this bill has gained widespread attention (including a riff on the Colbert Report) is because House Speaker Steve Tilley and House Majority Leader Tim Jones signed on as cosponsors, along with seven other Republican House members.
Those two have refused to disavow the legislation, despite the distraction and embarrassment it has brought to the legislature and Missouri. But now they find themselves in conflict with a dignified member of their own party, who said Cookson’s bill “would hurt young (people) in schools throughout the state of Missouri.”
Tilley and Jones have a choice. They can stand behind a bill that promotes bigotry or they can stand with Wyatt in the realization that sexuality is a fundamental part of one’s identity and can’t be expunged by a bogus state law.
George Hunsucker
Northland
1 year, 1 month agoOK ms. shelly, I’ll bite. What is so “courageous” about saying you are gay, your euphemism.?
In today’s world we accept people for what they are, so I am trying to understand what was so “courageous” about a person saying this. Must be a lib thing again……
George Hunsucker
Northland
1 year, 1 month agoThis man has courage ms. shelly:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/chen-guangcheng-ignored-hillary-clinton_643110.html
I wonder if Yanwen Xia will pen a blog on this??????????
George Hunsucker
Northland
1 year, 1 month agoOr maybe you, ms. shelly, could pen a blog on the “courage” shown by this newspaper who ignored their employees’ mugging….
http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/top-stories/reporters-beaten-by-mob-of-blacks-and-their-newspaper-stayed-silent.html
Johnathon Busby
1 year, 1 month agoI have great respect for Mr. Wyatt’s stand. It’s courageous because he’s risked his career and his reputation with his conservative peers to make a stand for what is right, decent, and just. He has chosen to oppose bigotry within his own party, at great risk to his political future. In this world, many people do accept people for who they are, but many still do not yet.
Phil Cardarella
1 year, 1 month agoGood for Zach! But…
Log Cabin Republicans — gay GOPers — are delusional. May as well be Capitalists for Stalin or Chickens for Col. Sanders.
Of course, the old line money in the GOP would make sodomy with pine trees mandatory if that was what it took to keep taxes at 15% on capital gains. The only screwing they are interested in is what the tax system does to the middle class.
But, the rightwing theocrats that provide the base for the GOP spew anti-gay bigotry (often while personally paying for gay sex, but that is another matter.) It is their stock in trade. They can’t say how much they resent Jews and Blacks — at least not out loud. But, they can attack the ultimate sexual “other” with impugnity.
So, it is great that this guy came out. But, we should not lose track that he ran as and supported, the Republican majority of House nuts. We should welcome the lost sheep — but not forget the extent to which he helped the wolf until it turned on him.