This is coverage of today’s protest on the passage of Proposition 8 in California. It was huge!
Today’s Deseret News has a piece on the Utah Senate race in West Jordan in which incumbent Butt-arse (my pet name for Chris Buttars) is fighting to retain. According to the article, A Dan Jones poll reveals that the race is statistically a tie.
Butt-arse has demonstrated, through his words and actions over the years, that he is against anything that involves people making choices for themselves. His mission is to have as much government interference in peoples’ private lives as possible.
Butt-arse’s past positions resulting in proposed legislation include anti-gay clubs in schools, anti-gay marriage or gay rights, and anti-evolution and pro-creationism theory ("Intelligent Design" – an attempt to refute evolution), as well as tuition tax credits (the precursor to vouchers).
Here’s a quote by Butt-arse that I found on the website linked below:
“Well, there’s a lot of things we vote on that we don’t understand, but I would rather stand on the principle of ‘let’s go for it.’ “ — Salt Lake Tribune quotes Chris Buttars
Be sure to check out this site and encourage everyone in District 10 to vote against Chris Butt-arse!
Save Me From My Senator – Chris Buttars Scares Me.
It was started as a result of dire frustration by a constituent of his. It’s chock full of really useful information, including
101 Reasons to Get Rid of Chris Buttars, Tools for Citizens to use in the Fight, news and blog articles, and lots more.
See my past posts on this candidate: Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged chris buttars, education, gay issues, gay rights, human rights, politics, Utah, utah legislature
This is published by permission from an acquaintance of mine who is LDS.
Proposition 8 deeply troubles me and what Californian, Idahoan, and single adult Latter-day Saints are being asked to do about it deeply offends my religious beliefs as a Latter-day Saint. What I feel about gay marriage is a big part of that and a big part of my religious beliefs as a Mormon.
SHORT VERSION:
First, my baptismal covenants are, as stated in Mosiah 18, “to mourn with those that mourn, to comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as a witness of God in all times, and in all things, and in all places.” Prop 8 and the rhetoric surrounding it partially bothers me for that reason. I have a lot of friends who grew up LDS and are gay and their stories are TRAGIC. Horrible. It is disgusting how they have been treated, how they treated themselves when they were struggling with how their felt, and the people who treated them like that are not without blemish, despite them thinking they were just encouraging righteousness and protect the family by trying to “save” my gay friends from themselves. It’s reprehensible and I believe they will be held accountable. I think that since Mormons have covenanted to comfort those that stand in need of comfort that that should be our #1 goal. A lot of the rhetoric surrounding prop 8 communicates to my gay friends that they are fundamentally wrong, that they should repent, and that they’re not the same as we are, and ergo shouldn’t have the same rights that straight people have. Ugh.
So I always knew I was an economic liberal, and I became a social liberal when I started realizing that equality and choice were important as a measly freshman at BYU. I started thinking about my political and religious beliefs, evaluated why I thought them, and when I got to gay marriage I couldn’t find any way around it. In order to all be created equally with the same unalienable rights and privileges (dec. of independence.) and that we’re even equal before God in terms of what the doctrine says, there was inequality when it came to sexual preference. I realized back then that there were tax breaks, health care rights, hospital visitation rights, property rights, etc. that are being denied to people just because of their sexual preference. Wrong.
LDS doctrine is all about equality: “D&C 78:5-6 “That you may be equal in the bonds of heavenly things, yea, and earthly things also, for the obtaining of heavenly things. For if ye are not equal in earthly things ye cannot be equal in obtaining heavenly things;” and what my government says about equality in the constitution and declaration of independence means what’s happening is wrong.
The arguments for prop 8 and against gay marriage in general are:
Continue reading
Utah has a 6 month old mutual commitment registry, which, if taken advantage of, should permit non-married couples (including same sex partnerships) the opportunities afforded of married couples. I’ve pasted a description of the registry at the end of this post.
Today’s Salt Lake Tribune’s article on the registry highlights a gay couple and their impressions so far of the registry. Mostly, it seems, it’s more of a symbolic gesture at this point. No concrete benefits have been realized yet by couples and no employer has yet to offer domestic partner benefits
Still, for Utah, this is progress.
What is the mutual-commitment registry?
Unmarried couples, both same sex and opposite sex, and other pairs of financially interdependent adults, such as person who cares for an aging parent, can sign up. The voluntary registry allows Salt Lake City to recognize nonmarried relationships of mutual commitment and support.
What are the benefits?
Employers who offer domestic-partner benefits can use the registry to determine a worker’s eligibility. Registered individuals will be allowed visitation rights at city hospitals and access to family discounts offered at city-owned facilities, such as recreation centers.
What do residents have to do to enroll?
– Sign a statement, provided by the city recorder, declaring you are “solely and mutually committed to each other.” – Document that both partners are at least 18 years old, unmarried and share a primary address in Salt Lake City. – Pay a $25 fee. – Agree to terminate the mutual-commitment contract if the relationship ends. – Prove financial interdependence by providing three supporting documents.
Source: Salt Lake City Recorder’s Office
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged domestic partnership rights, gay issues, gay rights, politics, Utah
A new site has popped up in the Blogosphere:
Save Me From My Senator – Chris Buttars Scares Me.
It was started as a result of dire frustration by a constituent of his. It’s chock full of really useful information, including
101 Reasons to Get Rid of Chris Buttars, Tools for Citizens to use in the Fight, news and blog articles, and lots more.
I live just outside of District 10, so I can’t help vote him out, but I sure can do all I can to get others in his district to do just that.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged 2008 elections, chris buttars, gay issues, gay rights, politics, Utah
| You Are 0% Homophobic |
 You’re open minded, tolerant, and accepting. And you’re not homophobic in the least 🙂 |
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged gay issues, gay rights, politics, transgender issues, Utah
From Equality Utah
In a vote of 41 to 29, with 5 Representatives absent, the House of Representatives voted to accept the Senate’s 4th Substitute of HB 236, Student Clubs Amendments, sponsored by Rep. Tilton and Sen. Buttars. 38 votes were needed for the 4th Substitute to be adopted.
Senator Buttars and Representative Tilton have each expressed opposition to Gay Straight Alliances in public schools. HB 236 does not specifically prohibit GSAs, but ambiguous language about why a school can ban a club may give school administrators the impression that they can ban GSAs.
Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged gay issues, gay rights, politics, school clubs, transgender issues, Utah
I am surprised and pleased to see these articles in this week’s local news on Transgender inviduals in Utah here and here. The articles chronicle the live of transgender citizens and provide awareness of transgender issues.
November is Transgender Awareness month and the articles give a timeline of events:
There are several scheduled events in celebration of Transgender Awareness Month. For information, go to http://www.glccu.com or call Jennifer Nuttall at 539-8800 ext. 13.
All the following events are free:
SATURDAY
Building Trans Communities: A Day with Jamison Green
Where: City and County Building, 451 S. State St., Room 315
What to expect: Green is an internationally known author, educator and transgender activist. He will lead three sessions about empowering transgender communities. Refreshments will be provided.
10 a.m. to 1 p.m.: “Connecting across Divides”
2:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.: “Effective Leadership”
7 p.m. to 9 p.m.: “Becoming Visible!”: Green reads from his award-winning book “Becoming a Visible Man,” followed by a question and answer session.
RSVP: E-mail teaofutahevents@yahoo.com
MONDAY
National Day of Remembrance & TEA Party
Where: Utah Pride Center, 361 N. 300 West
When: 7 p.m.
What to expect: A candlelight vigil to honor late transgender individuals and gathering to celebrate those still living
TUESDAY
Movie and Popcorn
Where: Utah Pride Center, 361 N. 300 West
When: 7 p.m.
What to expect: Films about transgender issues
WEDNESDAY
Where: Salt Lake Main Library Downtown, 210 E. 400 South
When: 7 p.m.
What to expect: Showings of “Home Is Where the Heart Is” and “Transamerica”
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged gay issues, gay rights, politics, transgender issues, Utah
The state represenative who introduced H.B. 148, LaVarr Christensen, is planning campaign to override the governor’s veto, according to a Salt Lake Tribune article in today’s news.
H.B. 148 was a bill designed to block same-sex couples’ ability to legally define their families through custody agreements.
Christensen, who is also running for U.S. Congress, introduced bills during the 2006 Utah Legislative Session, along with State Senator Chris Buttars, that were aimed at denying rights to gay and lesbian citizens of our state and were what I coined as “morality legislation”.
Stepparents and grandparents bombarded the governor’s office with phone calls and letters, afraid Christensen’s legislation could end up cutting them out of the lives of children they have raised. And Huntsman responded, rejecting the bill’s “undesirable consequences.”
Christensen insists the governor’s worries are unfounded. In an e-mail sent to his 103 colleagues last week, he urged lawmakers to remember his stated purpose. “This is a public policy decision regarding marriage, parenthood and family that is most appropriately decided by the legislature,” he wrote.
The Tribune article also mentions that Christensen did not return phone calls to the media inquiring about the issue.
This is clearly an attempt by a right-wing conservative to force one set of values on the whole of a population and waste taxpayers dollars by doing so instead of introducing legislation aimed at providing services for citizens.
What a waste.
Deanna Dee-Dee Taylor 