Click here to read Rep. Nelson's letter to The Daily's Charles Ward

Jason Nelson photo provided

A gay and lesbian rights discussion on campus Tuesday took aim at a 100-year-old law that could punish people for performing marriage ceremonies not recognized by the state statutes.

Former Oklahoma Corporation Commissioner Jim Roth, a Democrat who was the first openly gay man to hold statewide office in Oklahoma, criticized a bill Rep. Jason Nelson, R-Oklahoma City, recently filed for consideration in the upcoming session of the Oklahoma Legislature.

House Bill 3408, as written, would strike two words and add six to Title 43, Section 14 of the Oklahoma statutes. That section addresses criminal punishments for people who are authorized by the state to officiate at weddings but perform illegal marriages. Nelson’s proposed bill would give custody of those arrested under that statute to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, instead of the state penitentiary.

That language prompted Roth, an attorney at Oklahoma City firm Phillips Murrah, to express concern about ministers who perform commitment ceremonies for gay and lesbian couples, even though such ceremonies are not recognized by the state.

“If he walked his neighborhood, as I think a good candidate would, I bet he’d meet a lot of non-traditional households and so he is doing them a disservice by not serving all of them,” Roth said. “But that’s ridiculous, isn’t it? To try to arrest clergy for performing whatever you want to call it. I know it’s not legally recognized as a marriage, but if you want a commitment ceremony and your church is cool with that, why is the state trying to incarcerate you? It’s stupid.”

Nelson, however, said Roth mischaracterized the nature and intent of his bill. Nelson said the bill is a shell bill, a device commonly used by state legislators, reserving the right to address issues which may come up during a legislative session.

“[A shell] bill isn’t meant to actually be passed as it’s originally filed and introduced. It’s not meant to actually do anything,” said Keith Gaddie, OU political science professor. “But down the road you may discover you need these shells to carry legislation to deal with emergencies that come up or issues that arise.”

Nelson said he would not act to advance HB 3408 unless issues with a child support reform bill he coauthored that became law in 2009 arose during the current legislative session.

“What purpose would it serve to run a bill that only swaps one word for a synonym,” Nelson said by e-mail. “What purpose would it serve to run a bill that contains language already in the law? How could Section 14, which was written in 1910 ... Address same-sex marriage? Same-sex marriage was not a hot political topic in 1910. The fact is, the bill is a place-holder for any issue addressed in Title 43.”

Gaddie said Nelson’s bill appeared to be “pretty obviously” a shell bill.

Roth also said state Rep. Sally Kern, R-Oklahoma City, was “mutually offensive” when she said in 2009 that gays were a greater threat to America than Islam.

“[Oklahomans] are kind of scrappy, but we have a lot of loud people who are unqualified,” Roth said. “And I always think that when someone’s saying that kind of crazy stuff they’re basically saying to the world, ‘I am too incompetent to do work that matters, so look what I’m doing.’ Solve poverty, or help a kid learn, or do something that actually moves the ball forward.”

Kern said by e-mail, “I have no response other than it’s a free country and Jim Roth is entitled to his opinion as I am entitled to mine.”

Richard Ogden, vice president and director of the firm Mulinix, Ogden, Hall, Andrews & Ludlam, said he was considered for the recent opening in the U.S. Attorney’s office for Oklahoma’s Western District. Sandy Coats eventually received the presidential appointment and subsequent Senate confirmation for that position, which covers both Norman and Oklahoma City. Ogden said vigorous enforcement of the recently passed Matthew Shepard/James Byrd Jr. hate-crimes legislation would have been a priority for him as U.S. Attorney.

“I think that Sandy Coats, who was appointed as the U.S. Attorney, will serve the president well, serve the nation well,” Ogden said. “I definitely had a point to make, and I’m not for sure as to whether or not that agenda will be the same.”

Ogden said he would have enforced the hate-crimes law through teaching, as well as through prosecution.

Coats, through First Assistant District Attorney Bob Troester, declined to comment.

The speech and question-and-answer was sponsored by United Students, a group “dedicated to issues of equality and equal rights for all people regardless of gender or sexuality, particularly within the legal and political arenas,” United Students president Brooke Butner said by e-mail.