Senate Democrats in Utah are calling
for Republican majority leaders to take additional steps in
reprimanding Senator Chris Buttars over anti-gay remarks, reports The
Associated Press.
On Monday, Senate Republicans held a
closed door session to discuss the possibility, if any, of taking
additional measures.
Several gay rights activists have
called for Buttars' resignation over anti-gay remarks leaked to the
Salt Lake City-based ABC affiliate KTVX, where the Republican senator
called the gay rights movement “probably the greatest threat to
America.”
Buttars made his strong statements in
an interview conducted with filmmaker Reed Cowan, a former KTVX
reporter, for an upcoming documentary titled 8: The Mormon
Proposition.
During Monday's two hour session,
Senate Republicans say they aired out the issue, but Buttars refused
to participate in a press event held after the meeting. "He's
fuming in his office,” one attendee said.
Senate President Michael Waddoups, a
Republican from Taylorsville, announced on Friday that Buttars had
been stripped of his chairmanship of and membership in the Judicial
Committee. The committee is charged with overseeing gay and
lesbian rights legislation. As chairman, Buttars often expressed
pleasure in killing such bills.
“I think everyone came away feeling
their position had been vented,” said Republican Senator Peter
Knudson of Brigham City.
But Democrats, who were excluded from
the meeting, continue to express concerns on the matter and how it
was handled.
Several Senators had suggested that the
Republican caucus agreed with the content of Buttars' remarks and had
moved to reprimand him only because he had violated an agreement with
Senate leaders not to speak out on gay and lesbian issues. Senator
Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, said Buttars had become a “lightning
rod” on those issues. That deal lasted less than a month.
Senators on both sides of the aisle
appeared dissatisfied with the actions of the majority leader. When
asked if Republican senators were satisfied with the sanctions
against Buttars, Waddoups answered, “I wouldn't say that.”
Democrats say they would like to see
more action, but did not elaborate. One option would be to strip
Buttars from his vice-chairmanship of the powerful Senate Rules
Committee.
Senator Karen Morgan, a Democrat from
Cottonwood Heights, said Buttars' comments were not opinions on an
issue but something closer to an “attack.”
In his interview, Buttars, a practicing
Mormon, called gays “mean” and likened them to terrorists.
“They're mean. They want to talk
about being nice. They're the meanest buggers I have ever seen.”
“It's just like the Muslims,” he
adds, moments later. “Muslims are good people and their religion
is anti-war. But it's been taken over by the radical side.”
On the subject of gay marriage, Buttars
says the institution is the beginning of the end: “What are the
morals of a gay person? You can't answer that because anything
goes.”