Buttars's battle against gay youth.Students at East High School in Salt Lake City surprised many supporters and opponents of gay rights in 1995 when they demanded that they be allowed to form a gay-straight alliance, Utah's first. Despite considerable opposition and attempts by officials to block the clubs, a total of 14 gay-straight alliances have since formed in Utah public schools. But the growth of gay student clubs has become too much for Republican state senator Noun 1. state senator - a member of a state senate senator - a member of a senate Chris Buttars Chris Buttars (b. April 1, 1942) is a Republican state senator for Utah representing senate district 10 (which spans the cities of South Jordan, West Jordan, and Herriman). He has served in the Utah State Senate since 2001. , who on December 14 proposed unprecedented legislation to ban them. "I just don't believe members of sexual-orientation clubs should be sanctioned by the public schools," Buttars said. "They should not be allowed to have that on school property at all. It's just wrong." Opponents of Buttars's proposal said it would run afoul of a·foul of prep. 1. In or into collision, entanglement, or conflict with. 2. Up against; in trouble with: ran afoul of the law. the same legal obstacles as previous attempts to ban the clubs did. "Oh, that silly Senator Buttars," Dani Eyer, executive director of the Utah chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), nonpartisan organization devoted to the preservation and extension of the basic rights set forth in the U.S. Constitution. , told Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. . "What would we do without him? He just doesn't have a nuanced concept of constitutionally mandated fairness and freedoms." |
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