Apparently Utah State Senator Chris Buttars and his fellow homophobes in the legislature have some sort of blood oath or agreement not to go into public anti-gay rants; he made them all look bad when he said that gays are “probably the greatest threat to America going down I know of. Yep, the radical gay movement.” He got a wrist slapping, but they wholeheartedly agree with him on the topic. The Deseret News reports:

“I have to tell you publicly that most of what Sen. Buttars said — I agree with,” Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, said on the weekly radio program “Inside Utah Politics” on KTKK-AM. “However, my concern is that we, as a Senate caucus, had an agreement that because Senator Buttars has become such a lightning rod on this issue, that he would not be the spokesperson on the issue.”

Buttars violated that agreement, Stephenson said, adding that the comments undermined “everything we’ve done” in the last three weeks of the legislative session.

“It happened not because he said a lot of things wrong, although I don’t agree with some of the things he said, but because he decided to be the spokesman again when we had decided, as a caucus, and he had agreed, that he was such a lightning rod, that it wasn’t productive for him to be the spokesman on this issue,” Stephenson said.

“I think the bulk of people in Utah agree with 90 percent of what he said,” Sen. Dennis Stowell, R-Parowan, chimed in on the radio program. “He is a lightning rod, and I’m afraid the gay community’s using him a little bit to get more publicity.”

Well, gee, why do you think Buttars made headlines around the country? It wasn’t because of the LGBT community. That story blew up because the man is certifiable. We didn’t make him say:

In an interview with documentary filmmaker Reed Cowan, released by ABC 4 on Tuesday night, Buttars said the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community doesn’t want “equality, they want superiority.”

“It’s the beginning of the end. Oh, it’s worse than that. Sure. Sodom and Gomorrah was localized. This is worldwide,” the West Jordan Republican said in the interview.

And you can read and listen to equally deranged comments here. No, the real problem, Sen. Stowell, is that your slip is showing. You can’t hide your side’s hateful bigotry, because, well, you know deep down it’s wrong, and to utter bile like Buttars shows everyone where you all stand. He’s only a jackass with loose lips.

Besides, if you’re correct and 90% of people agree with you and Buttars, why is there a need for the vow of silence?

Hat tip to Inside, Looking Out, which has the audio. They note:

Relevant segment 38:20 minutes in — be sure to listen to the end of that segment — particularly the caller. The entire clip may be worth a listen as well… just to get a sense of how clueless these folks really are…

Don’t forget to check the comments thread at the Deseret News. There are howlers in there. Share your favorites in the comments.

In related news, Utah tops states with the highest consumption of porn.

The biggest consumer, Utah, averaged 5.47 adult content subscriptions per 1000 home broadband users; Montana bought the least with 1.92 per 1000…Eight of the top 10 pornography consuming states gave their electoral votes to John McCain in last year’s presidential election