In recent comments to a documentary filmmaker, state Sen. Chris Buttars compared gay activists to radical Muslims and said they are “probably the greatest threat to America going down.” He also said gay people lack morals.

In response, Senate President Michael Waddoups last week removed Buttars from a judiciary committee that Buttars also chaired.

Buttars frequently took pride in using his position on the committee to kill gay-rights bills.

Democrats – outnumbered by Republicans 21 to 8 in the Senate – called Tuesday for additional sanctions, including removal of Buttars from the rules committee, of which he is vice chairman. The rules committee is one of the most powerful in the Legislature because it decides which bills lawmakers will debate.

Democrats also requested that Buttars lose his chairmanship on the health and human services committee, although they didn’t propose he be removed from that panel entirely.

“By removing Sen. Buttars from these key positions, President Waddoups, who has the sole responsibility to do so, would be sending a clear message to Utahns, Americans and humankind that we do not tolerate bad behavior in the Utah Senate,” said Senate Minority Leader Pat Jones.

Waddoups has said Senate Republicans agree with many of the things Buttars told former local television reporter and documentary producer Reed Cowan. But Waddoups has repeatedly refused to say which comments he or other Republicans agree with.

Waddoups said removing Buttars from the judiciary post wasn’t a punishment, but instead an effort to remove a distraction that had drawn unwanted attention to the Senate.

Waddoups declined to say Tuesday what, if any, additional sanctions Buttars might face.

The state Senate’s only openly gay member, Sen. Scott McCoy, a Salt Lake City Democrat, said he would be willing to step down from the rules committee as an attempt at compromise if Buttars is removed.

On Monday, the Senate stopped working for about two hours while Republicans met privately to discuss the issue. Not a single bill was debated on the Senate floor Monday morning, increasing the backlog of bills that may never become law simply because lawmakers will run out of time to approve them before the 45-day session ends.

Lawmakers’ last day of business is set for March 12.

The legislation would make it easier for unmarried couples in Colorado, including gays and lesbians, to make medical decision for incapacitated partners and leave property to their partners.

The measure would apply to same and opposite-sex unmarried couples.

A similar bill already has already passed the House.  The two bills must still be harmonized and have a final vote in both houses.

Republicans attacked the measure, calling it an attempt to circumvent the state constitution which bans same-sex marriage.

In 2006, voters passed a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.  The same year, they rejected another ballot issue that would have given same-sex couples many of the rights of marriage including property inheritance rights and the power to make medical and funeral arrangements.

During debate on the bill, Sen. Scott Renfroe (R) quoted from the Bible and called homosexuality an “offense to God.”

“When we create laws that go against biblically what we are supposed to stand for, we are allowing to go forward a sin,” Renfroe said on the Senate floor. 

“We are taking sins and making them to be legally OK. That is wrong. I’m not saying this is the only sin out there. We have murder. … We don’t make laws making murder legal.”

The remarks brought a swift response from Sen. Jennifer Veiga (D) Colorado’s first openly gay lawmaker and the Senate sponsor of the bill.

“I will stand here today and tell you that God also created me, and the last time I checked, I am who I am,” she said.

And to critics who claimed the bill violates the gay marriage ban, Veiga said: “This brings no two people, myself, my partner, no other gay and lesbian partner, closer to walking down that aisle. It provides no tax benefits. It provides no other benefits. This is not about marriage. This is about health care. This is an equality issue and a fairness issue.”

(Kingston, Ontario) Students who make politically incorrect comments at Ontario’s Queen’s University, in Canada, can expect a lecture, whether they’re in or out of class.

The Kingston university has hired student facilitators to step in if they overhear students making homophobic or racial slurs, remarks bashing women or other offensive language.

The dean of student affairs at Queen’s says if students are making offensive comments loud enough for others to hear, it’s not a private conversation anymore.

Jason Laker says the facilitators use a respectful, non-confrontational approach.

But Angela Hickman, who edits a campus newspaper, says having such a program could stifle public discussion.