A crowd of demonstrators on Tuesday
protested homophobic comments made by Oklahoma University Regent Kirk
Humphreys.
Humphreys made the comments over the
weekend during an appearance on a local political talk show.
Humphreys, also the former mayor of
Oklahoma City, was on the program discussing allegations of sexual
misconduct against Minnesota Senator Al Franken and President Donald
Trump when he veered off the topic to declare that gay sex was wrong.
“Is homosexuality right or wrong?
It's not relative, there's a right and wrong,” Humphreys said. “If
it's okay, then it's okay for everybody and, quite frankly, it's okay
for men to sleep with little boys.”
LGBT rights advocate Freedom Oklahoma
called on Humphreys to step down from the Board of Regents if he did
not apologize.
In a
statement Monday, Humphreys, 67, apologized for what he called a
“lack of clarity.” “[My words] were not clear and led some
people to believe that I was equating homosexuality with pedophilia.
That was not my intention or desire.”
However, he added that he's morally
opposed to homosexuality because “it is against the teachings of
Scripture.”
According to News 9, a crowd of
demonstrators demanding Humphreys' resignation gathered outside
Tuesday's regularly scheduled Oklahoma State Regents Higher Education
Board meeting. Humphreys did not attend the meeting.
State Representative Emily Virgin, who
also appeared on Sunday's show, said that immediately prior to his
comments, Humphreys brought up former Massachusetts Representative
Barney Frank, the first member of Congress to voluntarily come out as
gay.
“He said will you defend Barney
Frank, and I was unclear what Barney Frank did, if anything, and then
it became clear that he was talking about Barney Frank because he's
gay,” Virgin
told News 9.
Virgin described Humphreys' remarks as
“disgusting” and “dangerous.” She's also called on Humphreys
to resign.
It's possible that Humphreys was making
a reference to former Oklahoma state Senator Ralph Shortey, who
earlier this year resigned his seat after police found him and a
17-year-old runaway boy in a motel room and charged the Republican
with engaging in child prostitution. Shortey
has plead not guilty.