….comes from Part of the Plan, which has a piece on Chris Buttars and his legislative positions. The piece is cleverly titled “Is He As Dumb As He Sounds ? (I’ve Lost Count)”
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged evolution, gay issues, politics, Utah, women's rights
The Parents and Families of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) organization held a rally at the capitol late Monday afternoon to voice support for the Gay Straight Alliance Clubs in public schools.
Photos I took are below. You can see more at Jen’s Green Journal
Articles in today’s papers about the rally:
Salt Lake Tribune
Deseret News
I’ve been posting frequently about the Buttars Bills. The issues on which these bills (and some others, I might add) are based are what is being termed as “message” bills and not focused on citizens needs.
One Utah has an audio clip of Utah Senator Scott McCoy’s passionate testimony about the Buttars bills and the attack on the homosexual community. Posting about his remarks does not do his testimony justice. Listen to it.
Other senators opposed to this legislation make testimony also about divisiveness and hatred and “throwing stones”. Analogies and poignant stories of past events are made to the body.
Proponents of the bill pointed out that the words “gay and lesbian” are not mentioned in the bill. However, Buttars keeps referring to homosexuality in his defense of the bill.
Buttars argued that “traditional moral values” upon which these countries were founded must be upheld……
Let’s taken a momentary aside and examine the personal lives and “moral values”of our founding fathers, shall we? Thomas Jefferson, for example, had a questionable sexual life. There is also some question as to whether or not Amercia was actually founded on the principles of christianity – even amongst the christian communities.
When touting the “traditional moral values” upon which our country was founded, it would behoove our legislators to first define “traditional moral values” and to then substantiate the claims with evidence that may be or my not be challenged.
The GLBT community and supporters will be holding a rally on Monday night:
Family Night at the Capitol
Monday, February 27 at 4:00 P.M. on the West Plaza Capital Grounds
PFLAG (Parents, Families, and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) invites you to a peaceful rally of support for the GLBT Community and for Gay/Straight Alliances on Monday, February 27 at 4:00 p.m. on the West Plaza Capital Grounds.
What our legislators are doing and saying is wrong, immoral, and sending a negative message to our community. Bring friends and family. Wear t-shirts, buttons, and make banners or posters that make a statement of how you feel about the proposed bills that will affect our community and our loved ones. Include positive messages that we want them to know about our friends and family members. Together we can make a difference. This is the last chance we have during this Legislative session to stand together and have our voices be heard. Please join us!
Thanks,
Geralynn Barney
PFLAG Mom
Governor Huntsman has indicated that he will veto the anti-gay club and evolution bills. He said he will make a final decision if and when they reach his desk and he has had chance to review them for any significant changes.
Both bills are sponsored by Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, who said he was surprised at the governor’s veto threat. “Why doesn’t he like them? What’s wrong with them?” Buttars asked. “I find it amazing he’d make those kind of comments, and he’s never asked to talk to me.”
The governor, who had earlier raised concerns about the need for Buttars’ bills, had talked early on in the 45-day session about avoiding so-called message bills and staying focused on more important issues.
“These are no message bills,” Buttars said. “These are solid pieces of legislation that involve morality. Morality isn’t a ‘message bill.’ “
This year’s Legislative session in Utah is beginning to be termed the “gayest” on record with all the pieces of legislation having to directly or indirectly pertain to gay and lesbian issues.
Ben Fulton, editor of the Salt Lake City Weekly states in his editorial this week, For Republicans in Washington, D.C., the running line is, “If you’re not with us, you’re against us.” The Utah Legislature’s unspoken motto seems to be “If you’re not with us, you’re with those dirty homosexuals.”
It’s true. It seems that each year more and more legislation has to do with morality and less and less to do with services. [Broken record again] It’s time for Utahns to speak out and push to elect officials who will speak out for services for citizens and leave morality issues to individuals and not the government.
Morality…..and morality:
The Utah Senate became engaged in a debate over homosexuality yesterday after some senators framed their defense of the anti-gay club bill (which the Senate passed) around the degradation of heterosexual morality.
A man who testified before a House committee earlier this week told the Senate that his niece had been “recruited” and “indoctrinated” by an alliance to speak in defense of homosexuals to her parents’ dismay.
“We allow the homosexual community to frame the argument . . . that these are nice friendly support groups. This is not true. You just heard that,” Buttars said. “To get the homosexual community’s agenda to pass, they have to get us to redefine our traditional morality completely. If you’re going to say homosexual behavior is OK, you’ve declared there is no morality.”
The statements offended Sen. Scott McCoy, D-Salt Lake City.
“I have never recruited a single person into the homosexual lifestyle because it’s not a chosen lifestyle. I didn’t wake up one day and choose to be gay, and I don’t believe . . . any of you woke up one day and chose to be heterosexual. It’s what you are,” McCoy said.
“It isn’t recruiting to say we recognize there are different kinds of people in the world and there are different ideas in the world and we should give respect and dignity to those people even though they’re different from us . . . and I take exception to the notion that being gay or lesbian is the antithesis of being moral. We are absolutely moral people,” McCoy said.
He added that the real moral issue of the session is to fund services for the poor, people with disabilities and education.
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A third attempt to get the “Origins of Life” bill passed, where public school science teachers would be dicated to teach the concept of “intelligent design” – or at least allude to it – was initiated in Utah’s Senate yesterday.
SB96’s House sponsor, Rep. Jim Ferrin, R-Orem, wants to substitute the bill a third time, taking out all references to the “origins of life” but still aiming to keep teachers from telling students they evolved from apes.
But that can happen only if the House Rules Committee agrees to put the bill up for its final legislative debate.
The changes didn’t win over school officials who oppose the bill, primarily because it treads on the state school board’s authority to set curriculum.
Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, last summer said he received parent complaints that children were being taught they evolved from apes, bringing into question their faith on creation. His SB96 has attempted to stop that from happening.
The bill’s Senate debates centered on the merits of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution and were chock-full of religious references.
Opponents have feared the bill would open the door to teaching creationism or “intelligent design” — the idea that life is too complicated to be explained in public school by Darwin’s theory alone, which a Pennsylvania federal court earlier this winter struck down as unconstitutional. Ferrin attempted to take religion out of the discussion when the bill came to the House. His proposed substitute would erase references to the origins of life and tighten language to zero in on evolution.
Despite the proposed “changes” however, school officials still feel that it is unconsitutional and would interfere with the state board’s oversight of state curriculum. Additionally, this is yet another bill that legislates morality and stems from one set of religious beliefs. And again our legislators are spending time on issues that do not fund services for the people.
….and all he can talk about is homosexuality.
Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, has returned to the Utah Legislative Session. Buttars is the legislator who introduced legislation to do away with the Gay Straight Alliance (GSA) Clubs in public schools in Utah.
There are actually two bills introduced, one approved in the Senate and the other approved in the House, with Republicans voting for and Democrats against the bills. The second bill, introduced by Aaron Tilton, R-Springville, doesn’t mention the GSA clubs, but clearly is aimed at them.
You can hear a partial audio clip of the hearing and testimony at One Utah
I find it humorous that Buttars said school boards could stop the Gay-Straight Alliance from meeting on school property because such clubs advocate “sexual activity outside of legally recognized marriage.”
Utah school boards have transparently stated their positions for allowing such clubs in schools and oppose Buttars bill. To prevent one club over another from meeting would violate the Equal Access Act. Furthermore, there are other lawmakers who do not see the need for this bill.
But Buttars believes homosexuality violates America’s “traditional morals” and Utah’s 14 active Gay-Straight Alliances “indoctrinate” students to support that “immorality.”
“If we continue down the road of tearing down the pillars of traditional morality, what will be left with? Only the philosophies of men,” Buttars said.
Despite proof of the contrary, Buttars and Tilton insist that the GSA meets to discuss sex. Nothing could be further from the truth.
In light of the fact that there is anti-bullying legislation in this year’s legislative agenda, I thought it very timely to read this statement in today’s paper:
After [today’s] hearing, emotional students from Hunter High’s Gay-Straight Alliance gathered outside of the committee room to comfort each other. They have tracked the bill and lobbied lawmakers, saying the club is a social network that increases student’s self-esteem, encourages diversity and protects students from bullies.
Buttars is, quite unfortunately, the senator of my district. I do not condone this piece of legislation and highly resent that he is spending time, funded by my tax dollars, to continually push this through when there are pressing issues such as mass transportation (that was completely cut out on my road), heating assistance for the poor and finding ways to make our eductational system even better than it is by allocating more funds, not to mention an array of other issues that affect all citizens’ needs.
I know students who are member of the GSA. My son, a heterosexual 19-year-old, became a member of it when he was in high school. He told me, “Mom, I joined because I was tired of seeing so much attack being made on students who supported GSA. It’s not about gay issues. It’s about issues that affect us all.”
Stop already Chris Buttars. Enough is enough. You are working for me and hosts of others who want you to spend your time truly representing your consituents – not pushing forward your personal agenda.
The saga continues on the bill desigend to keep Gay-Straight Alliance Clubs (GSA) from meeting in Utah’s schools.
Yesterday a Utah House committee approved a version of Chris Buttar’s bill. HB393, introduced by Rep. Aaron Tilton R-Springville, dictates how clubs would operate. Instead of banning the clubs, students would be required to obtain parental permission to participate in the club.
A high school student I know attended yesterday’s hearing and was able to speak to the issue. She told me that Rep. Tilton claimed that topics in GSA meetings were all about sex. The student challenged that since Mr. Tilton has never attended any GSA meetings. She also refuted the claim that topics were all about sex in her speech to legislators.
Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff states that this bill, if passed, will be able to be consitutionally defendable, since it would be violating the Equal Access Act. Furthermore, Utah School Boards and Utah School Superintendents associations sees this measure as an “unnecessary encroachment” into public schools.
The Deseret News has a published survey in today’s paper on the public’s opinion of GSA’s in schools. The public, according to the poll, is split on the issue.
Buttars is scheduled to return to session after an undisclosed illness at which time he will pick up the bill he introduced to ban GSA clubs.
Tilton said he will work with Buttars on which version they would jointly push.
Buttars has said he is against Gay-Straight Alliances because they are “conditioning clubs” meant to create sympathizers to a social group that goes against his morals.
I sound like a broken record: His morals? Who does Buttars represent – himself or his contituents?
This legislation of morality continues to infringe upon the constitutional rights by our legislators upon citizens. Where will the line be drawn? What precedent will this set for future moral legislation issues if this passes?
There are a couple of radio programs I thought I’d post about from the past week.
First is the (“Rocky Day”)February 7th Midday Metro from a Salt Lake public radio station, KCPW. Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson was this day’s host (my husband, Tom King, called in and talked to him). The program’s topic for this day was the Utah Legislature. Discussion topics on this program include the “Intelligent Design” and “Gay-Straight Alliance” Bills, with guests in the studio and caller comments.
Rocky also takes Rep. Hansen to task for accepting gifts from lobbyists.
Listen here. (mp3 file)
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Second is the February 9th Midday Utah from the same station, in which Jason Groenwald, from HEAL Utah talks about the nuclear waste transportation issue in Utah.
Listen here. (mp3 file)
Chris Buttars, the Utah Senator sponsor of the evolution and anti-gay club bills in this years legislative session, has been reported as “gravely ill”.
Buttars has been replaced on the Senate Judiciary Committee, due to illness.
Buttars…. has told his colleagues that the legislation he sponsored this year is part of his legacy, a life’s work of promoting conservative morals.
There is some speculation as to whether or not senators will vote on his bills out of sympathy.
Senate President John Valentine acknowledged a wave of sentiment for Buttars among lawmakers. Voting for his legislation may be another matter.
“I’ve seen a lot of sympathy to move his bills forward. But I haven’t seen sympathy as far as actual votes cast,” Valentine said.
And Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, who regularly has visited Buttars in the hospital
and has taken on his less flashy legislation, said, “Certainly there has been sympathy to keep his bills alive. Would we pass legislation because of that? No.”
Word has it that another senator is going to be bringing an anti-gay club bill to the floor next week.
Just when I thought it couldn’t get worse (what was I thinking???), another Utah representative has introduced new legislation that would replace Chris Buttar’s bill on banning Gay-Straight Alliance (GSA) clubs in public schools.
Rep. Aaron Tilton, R-Springville, says his HB393, “Public Education Club Amendments,” is close to public release and will look “virtually identical” to SB97, proposed by Buttars, R-West Jordan.
“I will probably be more aggressive in my bill” and require parental notification of some kind, Tilton said. The bill also “may or may not” set up a rating system, such as those for movies, that the school district could apply “so a parent would be made aware . . . of the (club’s) nature, that might conflict with a value they might hold.”
The rating, if Tilton pursues it, might be included in a parental permission slip, he said.
“It will restrict clubs, in my opinion, that . . . don’t adhere to community standards,” Tilton said of the bill. “If you’re a minor, you can’t engage in sexual activity.”
So let’s see……I wonder what the football club would be rated (I’d rate it for violence, for sure) – I’m sure the guys talk about sex in the locker room. So right there parents should not permit their children to participate in such a program.
I feel a comic strip coming on…..
Deanna Dee-Dee Taylor 