Glenden BrownIn the main arena, we have the Chris Buttars show . . .
What had been going along as a relatively boring, technocratic session has become the traditional legislative freak show thanks to Chris Buttars and the homophobes of the Republican majority. Frankly, the majority of Utah legislators are just plain old fashioned anti-gay bigots. They can dress it up in all the pretty language they want, they’re still bigots. Like our correspondent from Logan in the Trib the other day, they’ve convinced themselves they aren’t. They might even think they have gay friends. They may have gay friends - who make a point of not telling them what incredible bigots they really are because sometimes you accept your friends for all their faults and still like them.
But seriously: What is wrong with these people? Consider this: All 21 Senate Republicans cosponsored a bill to overrule Salt Lake City’s domestic partner registry. It’s probably the bill won’t pass the House, if it does, the Governor has indicated he would veto it. There’s a good chance the bill won’t actually get out of the senate in time to go to the house. Wednesday of next week is the final day of the session. So, as far public policy goes, their probably isn’t time for them to do too much damage.
It begs the question, however: What is so threatening to our elected bigots about a Domestic Partner registry? I get that many of Utah’s legislators are panty sniffing moral scolds who are convinced their job is to keep back a rising tide of the sex - it reminds me of the old joke that a Puritan is someone who is deathly afraid that someone somewhere might be having a good time - but I have yet to hear any logical, reasonable, sane argument against allowing couples legal protections through something like a Domestic Partner registry. Refusing to grant non-traditional couples legal status won’t preserve a single marriage, won’t prevent a single divorce, and won’t create a single happy family.
In the end, such efforts are about a group of pathetic, fearful people who are so afraid of anything but their own ideas and experiences that they can’t permit themselves to consider anything else valid. That a group filled with such wingnuttyness got elected to pass laws for our state remains something of a tragedy. To write their little fears and bigotries into law now, only means we have to do that much more work in the future undoing their damage.
February 28th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Hmmm …. And Utahns are shocked and dismayed when the rest of the country absolutely refuses to vote in one of their own. Priceless!
February 28th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
True enough Glendon, I agree…why is it you live where you do? You must love the challenge, I know I did.
Things will change when more people with open minds move to Utah.
Beware the outmigration, some people can only take so much. More of you have to move to the hinterlands of zion.
February 29th, 2008 at 10:38 am
It’s true, pop. I think there will be an outmigration. My partner and I are discussing a move right now, because this session has been a final straw for me. I”m tired of living somewhere where it’s completely fine for my elected leaders to legislate against me. On the one hand, I am so happy that Buttars has had such a bad term, and that he’s gotten punished (in some sense of the word, anyway) for some of his remarks. But it is still very discouraging to know that if he hadn’t made his now infamous racist comment, nothing would have happened. All of his homophobic remarks get said and reported on with nary a complaint from anyone (anyone straight, that is).
I’m tired of fighting the fight here. I hope others will come and fight, because it’s a fight that needs fighting. But I’m over it. It’s time to move to greener pastures.
February 29th, 2008 at 12:03 pm
Washington is 1 of the 10 States that pay for everything in this Country, and domestic partner arrangements are far more respected. There is an economy for now, obviously centered on Seattle. It has the best overall conditions in the West for me, though taxes are high, and it is much more expensive here in general.
Then there is the weather. It is cloudy, it rains…however despite the sun, it rains all day everyday in Utah depending on who you are. I am living on the West End of the Olympic Peninsula, 116 inches of rain a year. On the plus side, the surfing is great, you can ski, you can fish to no end, and you can hike. Just need xtra-tuffs and a rain suit. Never really cold at sea level. Sequim is booming on the OP(retirement and 17 inches of rain a year, nice place) and Bellingham north of Seattle is a nice area, and booming. Very congested though.
I like to say, in the origins of things lie their future. Let Utah suffer the vagaries of it’s own prejudices and let it suffer the consequences of its backwards thinking. Sort of a cultural free market regimen. I moved, and I lived in Moab, beautiful, but like they say, you can’t eat the scenery. The reality is that outside of SLC, Utah is pretty unchanged in its thinking.
Keep in mind that my contra writings are simply an exercise for me, I am more in line with sentiments posted here, but truly, what fun would it be to agree? If obama gets elected so be it, I see higher taxes, and not too much change on the foreign front. What else is new?
February 29th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
We used to fantasize about using a big helicopter in the middle of the night to kidnap angel Moronii from atop the temple…leaving a note in its place ordering the flock to “BEGIN YOUR MIGRATION”
February 29th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Pop, it’s interesting that you would give me what is essentially a pro-Washington/Seattle pitch, because that is exactly where we are thinking of moving. I have never been there though, so I’m not 100% convinced, but I think it is likely we will end up there within the next 6 months to a year. I am concerned a bit about a higher cost of living there, but I also think we could both earn more there. And the idea of being in a place where we can at least have some state recognition of our partnership is incredibly appealing. And being somewhere where I don’t have to wake up to Gayle Ruzicka’s face on the front page of the paper would be a HUGE bonus. Besides being a scary person on the inside, she’s just downright ugly.
I lived in NYC for a while after college, though I wasn’t out at the time (what a waste, I know), so part of me is still drawn to the east coast. But we’ll see. Glad to have the info you shared.
Cav…what a hoot that would be. I’d love to see the reaction!
February 29th, 2008 at 2:14 pm
You will earn more, you will pay more. There is no State income tax…yet.
It’s maybe a one go round life, so as I get older being around a culture I can deal with means more than recreational opportunities. That said Washington has plenty of them, and of course…there are the beaches and the Sea.
Sequim area has the best weather in Western WA.(in the rain shadow of the Olympic mtns.) It has become retirement land, don’t know what you do but health and nursing, physicians, any service is doing well. The pay scale is lower there than Seattle.
I am not found of South of Seattle, I would rather live north of it, or in the DT or city proper.
There is always Vermont where I grew up, but winter is still long no matter how warm people say it is getting.
February 29th, 2008 at 8:30 pm
I hope things work for you wherever you land and as you can see participation in this conversation is not limited to ‘Behave’ staters. So Check in as you will and let us know how it goes. And thanks.
The whole motive of our migration inducement would have been to remove the one layer of society that crimped our style, (there was also the reduced competition for the ‘Good Spots’)! It was born of generalizations which discounted the really good saints among us. As twisted as it may sound, I’ve sort of grown to appreciate some of the loving, open-minded mormons that have been part of my life. I still dream of living elsewhere but keep coming back. Travelling works for me pretty well.