For shame: Reject bill that would abolish gay student clubs

This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2007, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.

One definition of a slow learner might be someone who runs headlong into a closed door, picks himself up, gets a running start and once again slams full bore into the same door.

Another definition of a slow learner might be Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, who, along with Rep. Aaron Tilton, R-Springville, once again is trying to meddle with the gay student support clubs in Utah high schools. The clubs have flourished without much fanfare since a landmark federal court decision forced the Salt Lake City School Board in 2000 to allow a gay-straight alliance to form at East High School.

At the urging of Buttars, Tilton came up with House Bill 236. This legislation is a tortured attempt to establish an onerous state policy over all student groups - chess players, athletes, thespians - in order to cripple or abolish the clubs that these lawmakers consider a threat to students' "moral well-being," or that have anything to do with sexuality, or that operate beyond "the boundaries of socially appropriate behavior."

Never mind that Utah school districts have always set the rules for student clubs and have competently overseen their activities. Buttars and Tilton, though, along with Gayle Ruzika of the Utah Eagle Forum, seem convinced that gay-straight alliance meetings are really nothing more than places where students sit around and talk about gay sex and try to recruit heterosexual students to "the gay lifestyle," whatever that is.

If they ever bothered to learn anything about the gay-straight clubs at 14 Utah high schools, they might see why faculty advisers and school officials aren't concerned: These clubs are safe havens for students to discuss the challenges they face in threatening, anti-gay environments, beginning with the schools they attend each day. These clubs also engage in service projects and social activities, just like other clubs, for Pete's sake.

The homophobia driving this ugly and likely illegal effort is precisely what makes gay-straight alliances so crucial to fostering self-esteem, understanding and social acceptance at Utah high schools.

For shame.