OKLAHOMA: Tulsa City Council Adds Sexual Orientation Protections

Gay rights? In Oklahoma? Get out of here!

Champagne corks popped at the Dennis R. Neill Equality Center on Thursday night after the City Council voted to add sexual orientation to Tulsa's nondiscrimination policy. Oklahomans for Equality members cheered and jeered at a rally as they watched councilors discuss the issue and their votes on a large-screen TV at the center. "As a gay, black man in Tulsa, Oklahoma, it's a monumental night," said Tracy Allen, incoming volunteer coordinator at the center. The change in policy is more in line with other large cities and will help Tulsa as it continues to grow, Allen said. "We are impressed with what we're seeing," he said. "As a city, as a whole, we are growing in the right direction." Oklahomans for Equality released a statement saying the vote marked a 35-year journey to equality, beginning with a 1975 report commissioned by then-Mayor Robert LaFortune. That report recommended that the city adopt the nondiscrimination policy.

Sally Kern must be livid. Excellent.