What He Meant to Say ...
You know something's off-- or it's an election year -- when state Rep. LaVar Christensen does damage control for state Sen. Chris Buttars on the subject of gay marriage.
At the Legacy Law Foundation's conference at the end of March, Christensen and Buttars were asked to talk about the battle to ban same-sex marriage in Utah. In 2004, Buttars and Christensen were co-sponsors of a Utah law and constitutional amendment barring gay marriage and civil unions.
With frequent references to the founding fathers, Christensen, a Draper Republican challenging Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson for his seat, talked about legislators acting in "great moments of faith."
Then Buttars stood up. Much less eloquently, the West Jordan Republican complained that gay activists successfully cast themselves as victims of "narrow-minded bigots." He pulled out the dubious threat of gays and lesbians preying on teen-agers -- an argument he tried to use during the 2006 Legislature to convince his colleagues to ban gay student clubs.
"The greatest targets the gay and lesbian community have today are your youth," Buttars said. "They only have to wait a few years for the youths to become the adults that make the decision and they'll win. You can't let these people define the argument."
After having been linked to the firebrand, Christensen tried to soften Buttars' message with a "hate the sin, love the sinner" approach. Christensen urged a "civil dialogue." He quoted a statement from the LDS Church lamenting the pain homosexuals must feel. And he insisted he feels "sincere respect" for those in the gay community.
As part of his campaign to be remembered as a Reagan Republican, Christensen still touts Amendment 3 as the sort of family values legislation the beloved president would support.
"We have so little opportunity to really know one another and know how sincerely we want to reach out to people," Christensen said. "But there are limits."
--Rebecca Walsh
At the Legacy Law Foundation's conference at the end of March, Christensen and Buttars were asked to talk about the battle to ban same-sex marriage in Utah. In 2004, Buttars and Christensen were co-sponsors of a Utah law and constitutional amendment barring gay marriage and civil unions.
With frequent references to the founding fathers, Christensen, a Draper Republican challenging Democratic U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson for his seat, talked about legislators acting in "great moments of faith."
Then Buttars stood up. Much less eloquently, the West Jordan Republican complained that gay activists successfully cast themselves as victims of "narrow-minded bigots." He pulled out the dubious threat of gays and lesbians preying on teen-agers -- an argument he tried to use during the 2006 Legislature to convince his colleagues to ban gay student clubs.
"The greatest targets the gay and lesbian community have today are your youth," Buttars said. "They only have to wait a few years for the youths to become the adults that make the decision and they'll win. You can't let these people define the argument."
After having been linked to the firebrand, Christensen tried to soften Buttars' message with a "hate the sin, love the sinner" approach. Christensen urged a "civil dialogue." He quoted a statement from the LDS Church lamenting the pain homosexuals must feel. And he insisted he feels "sincere respect" for those in the gay community.
As part of his campaign to be remembered as a Reagan Republican, Christensen still touts Amendment 3 as the sort of family values legislation the beloved president would support.
"We have so little opportunity to really know one another and know how sincerely we want to reach out to people," Christensen said. "But there are limits."
--Rebecca Walsh
8:01 PM
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