Gay-Bashing State Rep Exaggerated Death Threats

Gay-Bashing State Rep Exaggerated Death Threats
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The Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation is sorting through nearly 7,000 e-mails that were sent to a state lawmaker after she said homosexuality is a bigger threat to the United States than terrorism.

Comments by Rep. Sally Kern, recorded several weeks ago but placed on the Internet site YouTube only late last week, have caused a national outcry, resulting in more than 500,000 hits on the Web site.

A fellow lawmaker contacted the OSBI on Monday and suggested that agents go through the e-mails, some of which might be threatening, OSBI spokeswoman Jessica Brown said.

Kern said Monday that she had not received death threats. On Tuesday, she said, "It's changed," but she did not elaborate.

Brown said Tuesday, "There are a lot of e-mails to the representative that say, 'You ought to die,' rather than, 'I am going to kill you.'

"I wouldn't characterize them as death threats," she said.

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