“He’s so gay”

That’s what my students would say about Utah State Senator Chris Buttars, who wants to prohibit gay clubs in Utah schools.

Buttars has also been aggressive about pushing for the public school curriculum in Utah to teach the religious based theory of “intelligent design” as an alternative to the theory of evolution. Buttars’ recent initiative to get the gay clubs out of schools is being supported by the Utah Eagle Forum, a right-wing fundamentalist Christian Lobbyist organization.

The Gay-Straigh-Alliance Clubs have been sanctioned as a school club in Utah’s public school ever since the 2000 ruling that groups could meet as curriculum-related “school clubs” or extracurricular “student clubs” (after a 5 year period when clubs were eliminated when a high school group wanted to form the GSA resulting in protests and a fight for the right to meet). There are currently 14 GSA clubs in Utah public schools, the most recent one formed at Provo High School in Utah County, the country’s most conservative county. Principals interviewed at other high schools in Utah state that the GSA clubs in their schools are non-controversial, service-oriented and serve as support groups. Principals also add that the clubs are important to the schools’ climates and that they should be kept.

Yet, Gail Ruzicka of the Eagle Forum states:
“It’s about . . . having a safe place to send our children to school where they don’t have to worry about the environment, where parents can trust the teachers and advisers there to uphold high moral standards,” Ruzicka said. “This does not help the young people; this is very damaging to them.”

I would like to see a civil debate on the definition of “morality”. Clearly this lobbyist group that is supporting a state senator who is paid with my tax dollars is trying to push its definition on the whole of the citizens. How I define “morality” is probably quite different from those that subscribe to more fundamentalist ideas. I feel it is not appropriate to force one’s idea of “morality” on others. In this case “morality” includes religion, a clear violation of separating tax supported institutions from any relgious issues and/or values.