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Shortly after University of Utah honorary degree recipient Lynette Nielsen Gay resigned from the World Congress of Families amid cries that it was an anti-LGBT hate group, a Utah legislator posted her own outrage on Facebook.

But her anger wasn't directed at the World Congress of Families or its past activities of advocating against expansion of rights for gays and lesbians. It was directed at the U. and contained some veiled threats.

"Who is really the intolerant group? EXTREMELY disappointed in our tax-funded institution and tax-funded President [David] Pershing to claim the values of pro-family organizations are inconsistent with the U's values," wrote Rep. Kim Coleman, R-West Jordan. "We also pay the salaries of the Academic Senate, whose members are opposing this honoring degree award."

Coleman's response was to the controversy surrounding the honorary degree to Gay, who was venerated for her philanthropic work, along with her husband, particularly in Africa.

When it was announced last month that Gay would be one of the honorary award recipients, a number of groups protested on social media because she served on the board of the WCF, tagged as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center.

The WCF has advocated on behalf of the "traditional family" and has actively worked against efforts to legalize same-sex marriage.

Gay resigned from the WCF board in early May, before the graduation ceremony where she received her degree.

She stated that she was involved in the organization because of its work globally to improve the lives of children and that she supported all families and individuals. She said she did not want her values to be "misinterpreted."

But when Pershing and the university's Academic Senate made statements supporting her decision to resign from the board and expressed their own sentiments against the WCF, Coleman took umbrage.

"I feel a new conversation coming for our higher ed appropriations committee [of which she is a member]! Who made public institutions and public employees the judge of speech, values, moral character and what should and shouldn't be tolerated?!"

Coleman added: "We, the People, the tax payers of Utah, are funding this intolerance! I'm angry about this. It must stop! And if it doesn't, we shouldn't pay for this."

It should be noted that while some faculty members of the Academic Senate expressed their concerns about Gay's involvement with the WCF, the university never threatened to rescind Gay's honorary degree and she resigned from the WCF board voluntarily to diffuse the controversy.

Coleman's suggestion that statements from Pershing and the Academic Senate condemning the WCF might be grounds for a budget review of the U. by the Legislature's Higher Education Joint Appropriations Subcommittee seems to be a case of "here we go again."

Legislators have threatened the university's budget and the salaries of university officials in the past when their personal sensibilities were offended by comments from academics or university policies.

The problem is that when you have a one-party state, like Utah, some member of the majority party can decide an action by the university should warrant punishment to its budget and get support from colleagues with little or no opposition.

So Coleman may be a fan of the World Conference of Families. She may agree with its stance on LGBT issues. There's nothing wrong with that. But she or other legislators shouldn't get to threaten an institution's budget because they disagree with something some faculty members did or said.

Just this year, the Legislature stuck its nose in the decision-making process of the University of Utah's athletic department.

A firestorm erupted when U. basketball coach Larry Krystkowiak canceled this fall's game with Brigham Young University after one of its players sucker punched a Ute and Kritskowiak was concerned about BYU's response to the incident.

A number of legislators — BYU fans — went ballistic and now a legislative audit of the U. athletic department is being conducted.

When then-University of Utah President Bernie Machen banned guns from the U. campus, the pro-gun Legislature threatened to reduce his salary. And when friends or relatives of some legislators didn't get accepted to the U.'s medical school, the Legislature conducted an audit of the medical school to see if it discriminated against male Mormons.

In a touch of irony given the accusations from Coleman that the U. is intolerant of free speech, several legislators were apoplectic a few years ago when the student council of Utah Valley University invited liberal film maker Michael Moore to speak at the school.

Some threatened UVU's budget if it didn't rescind the invitation.

So intolerance of free speech is only intolerable if Utah legislators agree with the speech. —