Buttars said the Feb. 12 debate was intense because of the financial effect it would have on his district. He said before he spoke, he had been listening to other senators speak of splitting the "baby" among school districts and labeling it an "ugly baby."

"I'm pretty upset about this because this is a big deal for our side of the valley. So I stood up and made the blunder statement. It was horrible. I knew the minute, the second, I did it, I'd made a major mistake."

Asked why he then didn't apologize immediately, Buttars said, "because I was talking about the equalization, and I stayed on it." Shortly after the debate ended, Buttars said he told Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, during a break that he wanted to apologize.

When the senators returned to the floor, Valentine announced there had been a breach of decorum and that the senator involved wanted to apologize. Buttars said he was sorry and apologized a second time in writing on the Senate GOP majority's blog.

The two-term senator did not address the issue publicly further until Monday, except in a brief interview with the Morning News last Thursday when he said the "issue is done as far as I'm concerned" and that he stood by his apology.

"There were some mad people, and I could understand that," Buttars said Monday. "I didn't say anything because I thought, 'Well, you probably deserve this, you made a blunder and you hurt some people's feelings.' But all last week, each day it got meaner."

Buttars said many of the e-mails he's received have accused him of having "a history of being mean, then list the gay issues," including his recent legislation to stop Salt Lake City's domestic registry.

"I carry a lot of morality issues, and several of those have put me at odds with the gay community," Buttars said. "Those people are very angry at me." But asked if he believed the gay community was responsible for his situation, he said he didn't know.

"I think the news ought to try to find out about that," Buttars said. "Why did this go from, 'You made a mistake and we're mad about it,' which is fair, to calling me every name in the book?"

Mike Thompson, the executive director of Equality Utah, said it's the NAACP that has been the most critical of Buttars. That criticism, and Buttars' statement, were independent of any gay rights issue.

"Obviously, they have concerns about what Sen. Buttars said," Thompson said. "Once again, Sen. Buttars gets to point at the gay community, ... it's something else to blame on the gay community."

Buttars spoke to reporters just hours after the Senate GOP caucus met behind closed doors to talk about a statement issued by majority leaders that called him "a good man. He made a poor choice of words in the heat of debate. He did so carelessly but not maliciously."