No, Salt Lake County Council aides haven't been in a brawl. It just feels like it.

Since Tuesday, they have been swarmed by hundreds of e-mails lambasting the five Republican councilmen for rejecting domestic-partner benefits for county employees in a 5-4 party-line vote. The staffers are typing furiously at their computers trying to respond to the deluge, one by one.

"We've had about all we can handle this week," says Michael Chabries, aide to Republicans Cort Ashton and Mark Crockett. "Bigots, homophobes and hatemongers. And those are the nice things they say."

A taste of the invective:

l "You five persons showed that you stand for injustice, intolerance, bigotry and inequality. These are not the values of an American citizen and I am ashamed to have you in a position of influence in my community."

l "Thanks for the two-faced lies, people. I'm wondering WWJD [what would Jesus do] if asked to stand up and honor his word."

l "It is you who are less because, instead of standing up and fighting for the rights of others, you cower behind the public beliefs of the masses."

l "This vote adds to the disgusting record of this governmental body. You should be ashamed of yourselves. I am very disappointed in each and every one of you, and I expect an apology."

As quickly as the zingers arrive, they are forwarded to the councilmen. Still, aides say, it has been exhausting to answer the scores of insults prompted partly by a letter-writing campaign organized through a prominent gay-rights group.

"It seems like they're all replying from a mass e-mail from Equality Utah," says Ryan Perry, aide to Council Chairman Michael Jensen, who estimates his boss has 200 messages alone. "The name-calling and the bigot comments are kind of hard to read. But, other than that, people have been pretty civil."

Tuesday's vote and subsequent e-mail barrage follow an emotional debate that left Crockett and the county's Gay and Lesbian Employee Association chairwoman in tears. The issue was framed by Democrats as a matter of fairness, while their GOP counterparts argued such a move would signal an endorsement of gay marriage, which they note Utah voters soundly rejected in November by passing Amendment 3.

The shotgun e-mail, which triggered much of the response, included the phone numbers and e-mail addresses of each council member. It was a "joint statement" from the Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender Community Center of Utah, Human Rights Campaign, Stonewall Democrats, Log Cabin Republicans and Equality Utah, according to the last organization's acting executive director, Jane Marquardt.

"It was never our intent to encourage hateful speech," Marquardt says. "But we have to have constructive debate to let the council know there are real unmarried partners who deserve the benefits since they do the same amount of work."

She insists using the Amendment 3 argument in denying benefits for gay people is "just wrong."

That failed to convince Jensen, who stands by his decision. "Most people would draw a connection between the domestic-partner benefits and the vote we held in November," he says.

Jensen also downplays the feedback, saying the council also gets "swamped" over zoning issues.

"It's just democracy in action."

Chabries, who spent Friday wading through the missives, isn't so sure.

"Anytime you deal with sexual politics it incites a different kind of passion," he says.

Of the e-mails, consider this one from a University of Utah professor who helped the U. become Utah's only public employer to offer such benefits.

"One day so will the rest of this sadly homophobic, intellectually challenged majority."

djensen@sltrib.com