Rep. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma City, has come under scrutiny recently due to a video interview about his thoughts on sexual orientation and passing legislation to protect discrimination in the workplace.

The blog Think Progress published a video of the interview Monday with the headline “GOP Rep. Lankford Explains Why It should Be Legal To Fire Someone For Being Gay: ‘It’s A Choice Issue.’”

Watch the interview below:

Lankford did an interview with News 9 Tuesday and explained his position, claiming that the blog twisted his words and most likely targeted him because he’s a Christian.

He said he does think sexual orientation is a choice, but he said behavior outside of the workplace shouldn’t matter if an employee is fulfilling his or her duties.

“My decision would be to have great work performance and be a good employee and people will keep you,” he said.

“I just don’t think you have special protections based on behavior.”

Photo by Hugh Scott: U.S. Representative James Lankford addresses the troops during the return ceremony for the National Guard’s 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team at the Army Aviation hanger at Will Rogers Air National Guard Base Sunday, March 25th, 2012.

If you look at Google, you might notice the company has a chosen a black mark as its header. Usually, the header will be something interactive, colorful or relevant to the day. On Wednesday, it represented a call to action for web users to contact their senators and ask them to vote against pending legislation that would shut down websites that post or share pirated content and movies.

The two bills are known as the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act and both threaten to shut down websites that enable copyright infringement. Media companies say the passage of the bills could hinder  search engines and news aggregators.

In protest of SOPA and PIPA, several popular websites, such as Wikipedia and Reddit, have blacked out their sites for the day, urging readers to contact their representatives.

The Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office is asking for the public’s help in finding a man who robbed a convenience store Dec. 5.

Officials said the robbery occurred at a convenience store located near the intersection of I-35 & Waterloo Road. The armed man is described as 24 years of age, 5-foot-8-inches tall, weighing between 140-160 pounds and possibly has blue eyes. The man was wearing a dark jacket with large paisley emblems all over it.

If you have information regarding the robbery please contact the Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office at (405) 713-1006.

But in the words of Yogi Berra, it ain’t over till it’s over.

That last precinct made all the difference. In a race where Boren led by about 200 votes, the final returns turned the tide.

Reynolds earned 1,094 votes in that precinct; Boren tallied 736. The final result:

FOR STATE SENATOR, DISTRICT NO. 43                                  38 OF   38
          JIM REYNOLDS                          REP    13,826   50.29%
          DAVID BOREN                           DEM    13,667   49.71%

 Reynolds wins by the slightest of margins. That’s political drama.

Bob Doucette

He remained upbeat in his remarks to supporters.

“The senator ran a very aggressive, negative campaign, and he did so very early, which put us on the defensive,” Rice later told reporters. “We had to spend a lot of our money. We raised $3 million. Spent all of it.”

Despite the outcome, he said he is happy, especially about poll results suggesting Obama will win the election.

“I think his approach to government is what our country needs,” he said.

Rice said he will serve his remaining two years as a state senator and “when I’m done with that, I’ll figure out what I want to do. It may be that I’m not in politics at all. I don’t know.”

– Staff Writer Ken Raymond

“Should we continue this or should we wait?” he asked the crowd. “Can I please have your attention one more time?”

The talking continued until the crowd was shushed one more time. Inhofe appeared on stage to cheers and whistling, but once again, everyone was scolded.

“It’s sort of hard to hear,” the senator said. “They’re talking over on that end.”

Everyone from the quiet side of the room shot death stares to the rest of the Republican crowd. Shushing hissed across the room. The talkers canned it immediately. Then Inhofe began his speech in earnest.

Staff Writer Carrie Coppernoll