A bill to tighten controls on clubs at Utah high schools passed out of the Senate Education Committee on Monday, prompting tears from students who fear the bill would effectively shut down Gay-Straight Alliances in public schools.

SB97, sponsored by Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan, directs schools to deny clubs if their charter or activities would encourage criminal conduct, promote bigotry or involve human sexuality.

Buttars altered the definition of human sexuality Monday to a toned-down version saying any club "advocating or engaging in sexual activity outside of legally recognized marriage or forbidden by state law." Previously, the bill also disallowed "self-labeling" by students as to sexual orientation and "disclosing attitudes or personal conduct" regarding sexual orientation.

But Buttars made it clear to the committee, which voted 4-2 in favor of advancing the bill to the Senate, that Gay-Straight Alliances were still a primary targets of his legislation. Those groups, he said, are indoctrinating students with a "new morality."

"It's pulling down the traditional pillars of morality," Buttars said. "If you say there is no morality because we can do anything we want to do sexually, that's not something we want to do in America."

Buttars, who had missed weeks of the session due to an undisclosed illness, also had a parent speak about how his niece was "targeted, recruited and indoctrinated" by a Gay-Straight Alliance.

But John Spillman, a member of the Progressive Student Youth Council, said those groups are not targeting students to become homosexual or even to accept their viewpoint. Rather, they are support groups that Spillman said will now be nixed by the legislation.

"When we see a group of people being singled out because of who they are, it really worries us. I'm very worried for those people who are trying to find support," said Spillman, now a University of Utah student who said he did not have that support as a homosexual high schooler in Utah.

Monday's change in the "human sexuality" definition brings Buttars' bill in sync with similar legislation passed out of the House Education Committee on Friday. That bill, sponsored by Rep. Aaron Tilton, R-Springville, requires parental consent for all school clubs and now has an identical definition for sexuality as the Buttars bill.

Buttars noted if both bills pass out of the House or the Senate, a conference committee will decide which measure will be considered for final approval.

Sen. Patrice Arent, D-South Cottonwood, however, was not convinced the language change made Buttars' measure any more palatable. Arent, who voted against the bill along with Sen. Karen Hale, D-Salt Lake, said she still has qualms the legislation is in violation of the Equal Access Act, which states schools cannot discriminate against students who want to meet based on their religious, political or philosophical beliefs.

"I don't see the need for this bill. It's doing more harm than good," Arent said. "I don't think this is a bill that will accomplish anything in helping our students."

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