Utah Senate basically shuts down over anti-gay remark

Now that's a first. Utah's political scene tied in knots over a Republican state Senator making an anti-gay comment. Who'd have ever imagined.

The Utah Senate stopped working for about two hours Monday as Republicans privately met to discuss a lawmaker's recent comments that gay people don't have morals and that gay activists are among America's greatest threats.

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.

Republican Sen. Chris Buttars of West Jordan told a documentary filmmaker that gay people don't have any morals and he compared gay activists to radical Muslims, saying they're one of America's greatest threats.

Last week, Senate President Michael Waddoups removed Buttars from a judiciary committee he chaired. Buttars frequently took pride in using the chairmanship to kill gay rights legislation.

But there's more to the story. The reason the Utah Senate is falling apart at the seams over one anti-gay comment is become Utah, thanks to the Mormons, has now become a hate state. If Utah wants to clear its good name, then it needs to pass comprehensive legislation granting equal civil rights to its gay and lesbian citizens. The bigoted Mormons claim that they only oppose actual marriage for gays, but don't oppose granting gays civil rights such as the right to have civil unions. Great. Then do it. Pass a statewide law, with massive support from the Mormons, granting gays in that state civil unions. Then we'll talk about repairing Utah's reputation that the Mormons obliterated.