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In this segment of Trans-Tyranny: Bartlesville:
Recap - Bartlesville Citizens Object to Obscene Public Performance and Petition for Restrictions
Following Part 1 of Trans-Tyranny: Bartlesville, Judge Recuses Himself from PPO Case Meant to Silence OKEQ Opposition
Bartlesville City Council Tasks City Attorney Jess Kane with Reviewing Current Law and Suggesting Needed Changes to Limit Public Obscenity
Who is Bartlesville City Attorney Jess Kane?
Bartlesville’s Up-and-Coming City Attorney May Need Glasses: City Council Receives Inaccurate Assessment and New Definition of Crime
Kane Omits Video of Overtly Obscene Drag Performance from His Report: No Confirmation That Council or City Attorney Viewed Most Relevant Evidence of Criminal Behavior
A Tale of Two Videos in a Legal Game of Pick-and-Choose
No Police Action = No Crime?
Did OKEQ’s Threats of Litigation Cloud City Attorney Kane’s Vision?
What Was Happening Behind the Scenes? OKEQ Contradicts a Previous Assertion and Reveals a Different Motivation
Where was Bartlesville’s Law Enforcement during the OKEQ-Bartlesville Pride Event?
Mandated Reporting: The Most Important State Law That Both City Attorney Kane and Bartlesville PD Failed to Consider or Enforce
The City Council Sees Through Bad Advice, Legal Threats and Shifting Objectives: Moves to Draft Ordinance Protecting Public Spaces
Recap - Bartlesville Citizens Object to Obscene Public Performance and Petition for Restrictions
As previously reported, “The V1SUT Vantage continues to follow the plight of Bartlesville, a small community in Northwest Oklahoma, as the culture of alternative sexualities seeks to redefine what is appropriate in the most public of spaces. This particular town’s struggle to protect the innocence of children is a case study all Americans should take interest in.”
After a Tulsa-based group called Oklahomans for Equality (OKEQ) used a ‘local chapter’ strategy (OKEQ-Bartlesville) to bring drag performances to an elevated stage at the town’s most public outdoor venue during a pride event, thousands of local citizens petitioned their city council to prohibit adult-oriented performances in the community’s public spaces. The petition was reasonable and universal, applying to all events held by any group in Bartlesville’s parks and public venues.
Despite OKEQ-Bartlesville’s inaccurate statements to the city council about the nature of the event’s entertainment, at least one performance was overtly obscene, as proven by a video released by a group called Warriors for Christ. The petition sparked an uproar from OKEQ and its LGBT activists who immediately sought to redefine the request as an attack against a marginalized group rather than justified pushback for abhorrent public behavior.
Judge Recuses Himself from PPO Case Meant to Silence OKEQ Opposition
In Part 1 of this series, we learned how a county judge’s alignment and partnership with OKEQ could have influenced his issuance of a protective order that sought to silence the maker of the Warriors for Christ video and opposition to OKEQ’s agenda. Since publication, at the scheduled continuation hearing for that protective order, Washington County Associate District Judge Russell Vaclaw appropriately recused himself from the case. Another county judge will be assigned to oversee the rescheduled continuation hearing related to the protective order on February 15th.
From previous reporting:
In this segment, we’ll learn why those promoting reasonable standards to limit public obscenity or protect children never seem to have motivated legal representation, in this case, the Bartlesville city attorney. This trend of lawyers leading cities, schools and other institutions to ignore what their eyes, instincts and common sense tell them when it comes to protecting the innocence of children has become pervasive.
Bartlesville’s city attorney Jess Kane is no exception to this bizarre dereliction of duty, yet he provides readers with a close-up opportunity to discover why those in his position would ignore the most obvious of truths in these cases.
Bartlesville City Council Tasks City Attorney Jess Kane with Reviewing Current Law and Suggesting Needed Changes to Limit Public Obscenity
Following remarks at the October city council meeting, both supporting and objecting to the petition to ban adult-oriented activities in public spaces, the council instructed city attorney Jess Kane to research current state and city laws, ordinances and community standards. Kane was also to suggest needed changes to current statutes in order to address citizens’ stated concerns about public obscenity.
During the November council meeting, Kane gave a lengthy presentation on the matter based on an extensive (118 page) report that was really a 16-page review of state and municipal law and over 100 pages of cut-and-paste with one, gigantic omission. Kane ending with some disjointed conclusions that clearly contradicted the standing statutes and ordinances he had just outlined in detail.
Who is Jess Kane, Bartlesville City Attorney?
Jess Kane, Bartlesville City Attorney
Jess Kane is an attorney in his early 40s and a native of Bartlesville. If you were to ask Kane who his employer is, you’d be hard pressed to get a short answer. Kane is simultaneously a practicing partner at the law firm Robinett King, the Bartlesville City Attorney since 2019, an active member of four court/bar associations, Governor Stitt’s appointee to the Oklahoma Wildlife Conservation Commission since 2021, a rancher through Clover Leaf Cattle Company, and with his wife, a herd owner and family man with school-aged children. Where does Kane find the time?
Kane’s resume is typical of attorneys with political aspirations, such as Oklahoma’s new Attorney General, Gentner Drummond. Kane could be a stand-in for Drummond of decades ago. And the cardinal rule of those with political aspirations is to avoid losing the support of anyone. Aspirers of this nature tend to cave to the loudest voices, those most likely to create bad press, often ignoring the facts and the more civil majority.
Bartlesville’s Up-and-Coming City Attorney May Need Glasses: City Council Receives Inaccurate Assessment and New Definition of Crime
Oddly, at the November 7th council meeting, City Attorney Jess Kane seemed to have internalized the inaccurate description of the event’s performances provided by OKEQ-Bartlesville’s representative Morgan Lawrence-Hayes at the October meeting:
“Plainly stated, there was no nudity, no obscenity and no sexually suggestive performances.” - Morgan Lawrence-Hayes, OKEQ-Bartlesville
Kane then applied this edited version of the event to the city’s current ordinances to falsely determine that no breech of the law occurred. A widely circulated video of just one of the drag performances directly contradicts that assessment.
Kane Omits Video of Overtly Obscene Drag Performance from His Report: No Confirmation That Council or City Attorney Viewed Most Relevant Evidence of Criminal Behavior
Despite several interviews, this publication cannot confirm that all members of the Bartlesville City Council viewed all of the same available videos of the performances at September’s OKEQ-Bartlesville Pride event in Unity Square. In a bit of an evidence shell game, conclusions about the pride performance in question seem to have been drawn based on the mildest of available videos.
A Tale of Two Videos in a Legal Game of Pick-and-Choose
Initially, a video from the OKEQ-Bartlesville pride event that has since been viewed over 450,000 times was released by Libs of Tik Tok. While clearly sexual in nature, it did not depict the more obscene portions of this particular performance.
However, the group Warriors for Christ obtained additional footage that clearly shows the grinding and crotch grabbing that OKEQ assured attendees at a packed council meeting had not occurred at the event.
It can be confirmed that the council members did not view the above video from Warriors for Christ together.
Councilman Trevor Dorsey, during an interview with this publication, was asked about the video. He stated that he viewed the Warriors for Christ video individually and that the video was widely circulated online, but states that at no time has the council viewed the video together. Neither has the council met collectively outside of their regularly scheduled monthly meetings to determine how the video applies to the state and municipal ordinances outlined by the city attorney’s report on the matter.
Councilman Dorsey does not know if city attorney Kane ever viewed the Warriors for Christ video. Kane’s lengthy report contains no mention of the video or the adult male performer within the video lifting his skirt and grabbing his genitals in the presence of audience members, including children.
If this feels like a case of “we can’t be responsible for what we don’t view or acknowledge” being played out by both OKEQ and the city attorney, citizens would be remiss to dismiss that possibility. In these cases nationwide, there is a pressured tendency to treat all drag performances as benign entertainment, suitable for all, even in the presence of obvious evidence to the contrary.
In just one of hundreds of recent examples, a small town in Texas, not unlike Bartlesville, recently hosted a drag event with many children in attendance where the performer shared a common toast from the drag community, “to those who lick us where we pee”. When people tell you and show you who they are, believe them and don’t ignore it, unless, perhaps, you happen to be a city attorney.
In his report to the council, Kane laid out city and state laws clearly broken by the performance in the video above (see pages 3-5 of Kane’s report to the council) yet went on to suggest that no laws had been broken because “no citations were issued by the Bartlesville Police Department or other law enforcement agencies, and no charges have been filed in Washington County District Court or other appropriate venue for violation of these or other statutes stemming from actions which took place in Unity Square on September 10, 2022.”
Bartlesville City Attorney Jess Kane’s review of existing municipal ordinances.
Bartlesville City Attorney Jess Kane’s review of state statutes.
Either Kane missed the most incriminating video, or he is proceeding as if he missed it. In addition, Kane appears to suggest that not being caught by law enforcement while committing a crime is the same as not committing a crime.
Further, Kane’s report states that money was being handed to the performers and was a likely motivation for the performances but refutes any violation of municipal code regulating “Sexually Oriented Businesses”, such as strip clubs, because the performances were not “Specified Sexual Activity”. Oddly, just above Kane’s conclusion, he quotes this code and its definitions of said “Specified Sexual Activity”, in part, as follows:
Bartlesville City Attorney Jess Kane’s review of definition of “Sexually Oriented Businesses”.
It would be preposterous to argue that the actions of the performer in the Warriors for Christ video did not qualify as “Specified Sexual Activity” under the legal definition provided by Kane. And yet Kane’s report appears to do just that, unless he has omitted the Warriors for Christ video from consideration within his research.
In summary, Kane’s report and presentation before the council slowly build a case that both city ordinances and state statutes related to lewd, public behavior were violated at the OKEQ-Bartlesville Pride event, then finish by claiming those same statutes were not violated. Was Kane doing his job, planning his next position or influenced by other factors? Given that OKEQ came out of the box with threats of litigation, likely to be funded by the deep pockets of their Tulsa-based headquarters, and that much was happening behind the scenes to reveal OKEQ’s real motives in this fight, Kane’s complete lapse of logic may be predictable.
Did OKEQ’s Threats of Litigation Cloud City Attorney Kane’s Vision?
As is common with attorneys for city councils and local school boards, they often see their primary role as ensuring the council/board avoids litigation. This is increasingly why one dysregulated parent can change the bathroom policy for an entire elementary school. Given that OKEQ-Bartlesville’s executive president Morgan Lawrence-Hayes ended her comments at the October city council meeting with a promise of litigation should things not go OKEQ’s way, city attorney Kane may have been treading lightly as he prepared his report.
OKEQ-Bartlesville Executive Board President at October 7, 2022, city council meeting (forward to time marker 2:25)
“Lastly, I would like to remind our city leaders that any action taken to limit the ability of the LGBTQIA+ community to hold the pride event and drag show so long as we abide by the community standards would be considered discrimination. Should this happen, it would force OKEQ to respond with equally appropriate legal action to protect our freedom. That legal action would not only be costly to the city and to our taxpayers but divisive to our community.” - Morgan Lawrence-Hayes, OKEQ-Bartlesville
Instead of asking what “freedom” Lawrence-Hayes was protecting and bringing the conversation back onto solid footing, Kane may have chosen to tap-dance somewhere between the evidence available and its logical conclusion.
What Was Happening Behind the Scenes? OKEQ Contradicts a Previous Assertion and Reveals a Different Motivation
When asked about the council’s attempts to negotiate a mutual agreement between OKEQ-Bartlesville and those petitioning to strengthen the city’s ordinances to prohibit adult-oriented activities in public spaces, councilman Dorsey reports that there was an effort to find common ground between the parties. After all, Lawrence-Hayes initially and very publicly stated that everyone involved shared agreement related to a common objective for Bartlesville, giving the council hope for an amicable resolution.
“Oklahomans for Equality of Bartlesville agrees with the title of this petition ‘Prohibit Adult Oriented Entertainment in a Public Space’. We also do not want adult entertainment to take place in our public spaces.” - Morgan Lawrence-Hayes, OKEQ-Bartlesville
According to Dorsey, OKEQ representatives, while initially willing to make some concessions, drew the line at moving the drag performances indoors. It’s unclear why these drag performances must be front and center for all to see, but OKEQ is not backing down on the matter.
Where was Bartlesville’s Law Enforcement during the OKEQ-Bartlesville Pride Event?
While Jess Kane appears to be either confused, optically impaired or afraid to confront this issue, his inaccurate conclusions about the legality of the performances in Unity Square on September 10th beg an important question. Where was Bartlesville law enforcement, both municipal and county, when a grown man was grabbing his private parts in front of children in the center of Bartlesville? Would they have been making arrests if those children had been waiting for a school bus in a Bartlesville neighborhood when the same act occurred?Kane’s report to the council makes clear that such an act also violates state law. Somehow, Bartlesville is being led to believe that crime is simply not crime at a pride event.
Mandated Reporting: The Most Important State Law That Both City Attorney Kane and Bartlesville PD Failed to Consider or Enforce
The V1SUT Vantage has learned that Bartlesville Police Department officers were present at the September pride event hosted by OKEQ-Bartlesville. In light of the videos collected at the event, those officers and any other adult in attendance along with children at the performance depicted in the video above are in violation of Oklahoma’s bedrock law in the fight to protect children. Apparently, despite the law, exposing children to such things is no longer a crime. It’s pride.
According to Oklahoma law, the disturbing picture above from the OKC Pride Alliance’s Pridefest depicts an act of child neglect that any adult in attendance (or with knowledge of) is mandated by law to immediately report to the Oklahoma Department of Human Services (DHS) Abuse and Neglect Hotline. Neglect is defined, in part, within the law as:
“The failure or omission to protect a child from exposure to any of the following: The use, possession, sale, or manufacture of illegal drugs; Illegal activities; Sexual acts or materials that are not age-appropriate.” - Citation: Ann. Stat. Tit. 10A, § 1-1-105
The City Council Sees Through Bad Advice, Legal Threats and Shifting Objectives: Moves to Draft Ordinance Protecting Public Spaces
In Jess Kane’s defense, public obscenity law is not within his wheelhouse. Kane lists agriculture, oil and gas, and mineral rights as his legal terrain. The Bartlesville City Council appears to be well aware of Kane’s limitations and opted to seek outside guidance in moving forward with drafting a neutral ordinance to limit adult-oriented performances in public spaces.
The majority of this council seems to understand, despite a whirlwind of online temper tantrums to the contrary, this is about conduct in public and in the presence of children that the majority of reasonable citizens consider obscene and unacceptable. It is not about lifestyle choices, marginalization or first amendment rights. Crossdressing does not make anyone exempt from the standards of public decency.
If you’re asking yourself how places like Bartlesville, Oklahoma, find themselves in a situation where the majority of citizens no longer ensure the basic premises of decency in their communities or the ability to shield young eyes from the overtly adult aspects of alternative sexualities, stay tuned for the next segment in this series. You’ll also learn why so many are afraid to call out obscenity where they see it.
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