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Buttars broke vow of silence, senator claims

The legislators are really hitting rock bottom when they have to put gag orders on each other to restrict their freedoms of speech. I wonder how many laws were passed or influenced by gag orders? I would expect that all elected officials speak their minds with unrestricted speaking. He was and never did make any claims that his comments were in any way associated with all or part of the legislative body. He has the right as a citizen and the responsibilty as an elected official to be open and transparent with the public. If it hurts his standing with citizens is one thing but for other legislators to put gag orders on each other is rediculous and irresponsible government.

Show this guys unattractive mug and at every opportunity. Let him be a shining beacon and the face of intolerance in our state. Let your kids know him well and please Chris----keep 'em coming. Obama in 2012!

It's a difficult thing for a public figure to hold to their beliefs and stand up for what they think is right, even it it isn't the "politically correct" thing to do. Though I do not agree with these legislators on many things I applaud their honesty and integrity for representing their honest beliefs.

Thank you Mr. Buttars, Mr.Stevenson, and other political leaders who chose not to take the popular stance but chose to follow their moral compass.

Isn't it something to be admired that a person stands-up for their deeply held beliefs on moral issues even in the face of withering criticism and ever-changing "popular" opinion? Whether we agree with that person or not? I'm disgusted by Senate Leadership which punished Buttars for simply voicing his deeply held beliefs in what he thought was an "off-the record" setting. I'm so tired of the political correctness police. It's driving a lot of us the other way, we're getting so fed-up!

So most or all of the Utah state legislators are just as bigotted and homophobic as Buttars. But theyre too cowardly to say anything about it.

Ok....

Utah state REPUBLICAN legislators that is.

This is fascinating. Utah legislators apparently battling over civil rights issues, and it all reduces to a PR campaign over how public they should be in their bigotry. What a horrible place Utah must be if these guys are indeed representative of 90% of the populace. Its no wonder that they want to control their public image: we in California are now more vigilant and observant of your efforts to reach across borders and amend our constitution with your antiquated barbarism.

This is worse. Stephenson has revealed the rest of the senators' hearts are just as black as Buttars'. They're just framing their statements more tactfully.

This proves that all the talk about marriage has been totally bogus. It's never been about protecting traditional marriage, as we've been told. They all just think that homosexuals are immoral degenerates unworthy of rights.

History will not be kind to the Mormon religion.

Keep up the great work Sen. Buttars. Your courage is a breath of fresh air amongst all the smog.

We'd love to hear what he actually said, not just some reporters' opinions of it.
We'll bet it would not be nearly as dark as it is being painted, because...

In his previous incident, about some legislation being a "dark, ugly thing", I saw and heard the actual context of his words. Then the media reported a sound-bite, and the opinionated ran away with that, making it sound far worse than the original. And repeated and repeated and repeated it, until "everyone" thought that was the whole story.

I may not like his way of saying things, but neither do I like most politicians' way. Whether I agree with him or not, he does have the right to speak freely. Or at least in the America I remember.

Interesting that a "documentary filmmaker", who is gay, choose to "document" Sen. Buttars. I would like to see a list of his other "documentary films".

If Senators Stephenson and Stowell agree with most of what Sen. Buttars said, and think the bulk of people in Utah also agree, why is he being stripped of leadership posts? Oh yea, because of an "agreement" in the caucus.

Sounds to me as if the senate is as spineless as our govenor on this issue. Thank heaven the "equality" bills were killed in the house. The senate probably wouldn't have.

I say to Sen. Buttars, "Don't let your wimpy colleauges talk you into resigning over this issue!!"

Expecting one to be silent about a moral issue is asinine. Let him speak and quit punishing him for doing so.

although i don't agree with the gay life style, i think it is interesting that utah of all places, with a history of its founders being treated with such bigotry would be the beacon of such thinking in america now. lds missionaries will be seen in that light too. if the church is going to announce a position of support for civil rights on one hand, you can't tell the world that 90% of the church HATES gays on the other.

Senator Buttars, thank you for all the work you've done. You are one of the true politicians who represent the people. Your voting record is impeccable. Your fight for the people YOU REPRESENT is exemptlary. If we had more representatives of action and honor we would not be in the mess we are in. If we had a governor who was a little less politician and a little more representative.....many of our Utah woes would be solved. You've been punished for telling the truth regardless of any secret oath you took. That in itself speaks volumes to me. Bravo!

The kind of extreme language used by Sen Buttars to describe the personalities of Utah fellow citizens is NOT representative of "90%" of our population. I am not gay, but I was taught to act and speak civilly and to treat all people with the respect they deserve. Children and grownups follow the examples of their leaders. The language used by Sen Buttars and endorsed apparently by many of our lawmakers provides the license for others ratchet up the hateful discord another notch. This discussion is important and needs to be elevated. The process is almost important as the issue itself. What are the lessons we are teaching our children? They are watching, listening and they follow our example.

So, if we say Gays live an immoral lifestyle and are an abomination on the face of society and are threat to our families and the core moral values of our society, we are to be labeled "bigots". If we call someone who robs a bank a thief....we're "bigots". This may be news to you homosexuals but we live as directed by the Bible and the Book of Mormon, not according to your dimented perspective. We want you to repent and return to the fold. We do not want to excoriate you or tar and feather you or to exact any measure of punishment on you but we want to love you back into the fold. Your "in your face", "take us as we are or shut up" attitude is what prevailed in Sodom. We pray for you.

The headline gives the clear message that he vowed to be silent, but your own story doesn't say that.
Des.News you do a disservice to your customers, when you do stuff like that.

With Kevin, that is.

History will not be kind to Mormons.

First, we've got all these lawmakers in Salt Lake City who believe that they have a directive from God to rule a state according to their own interpretation of the commandments.

Second, we have those lawmakers restricting the free and open speech of their elite club members.

And then, of course, we have a host of citizens who believe that sexual practices bring civilizations to ruin, when it's actually only lawmakers that claim the illustrious title of society destroyers.

Think about it. Kings and magistrates hired men to write the scriptures. They had a gullible, pious market to sell their canon to. If they wrote the truth, that empire building and taxes destroy nations, then they had a very hard time getting taxes and soldiers to do their dirty work.

If, on the other hand, the people could be made to believe that their own sexual habits would be their ruin . . .

Here we have law makers once again telling us that the citizens are at fault for our nation's demise, when it's actually their own fault. Shame on them.

This is pathetic. Having served as Chair of the SL County Republican Party, I feel for Senator Waddoups having to deal with the egos, personalities, infighting and immature demands by many.
Senator Waddoups conveyed a sincere desire to do what is best for the Senate after expressing a commitment to free speech, but taking into consideration all of the various demands by so many different groups (not only the democrats, the media, the LBGT community, but apparently conflicting demands from within the Party as well).
This convtroversy could be drawing to a close, but now we have to read this, which makes it worse, not better. The irony is that I don't think Stephenson et. al. were appointed to speak for Waddoups.

Since when has history EVER been kind to the Mormon faith Kevin? If there was ever a group that understood what it was like to be persecuted, hated, or having every single civil right they possessed trampled on, this would be the one. (Can you name any other group or religion in our "land of the free" who until only recently had an extermination order against them in the law books of Illinois, encouraging their citizens to hunt down and kill every man, woman or child who was a member of this faith?) Unbelievably it has been a standing order all these years and was only rescinded with barely an apology just a few years ago. Talk about politically incorrect, but it didn't even make the headlines of most major newspapers. Imagine if that had happened to the gay coalition? We'd still be talking about it. I for one am tired of hearing blame for every possible problem in the state of Utah or elsewhere in this country being heaped upon the shoulders of this faith. Please, find a different target for your hate. I think they have had enough.