The Gov Gives, and The Gov Gets

[helderheid]

The Gov Gives, and The Gov Gets

February 12, 2009 by ethingtoneric "The Pig"

Utah Governor John Huntsman Jr released a statement a few days ago stating that he was pro both civil unions and other rights for homosexuals and transgendered people in Utah. Since then, he has received an enormous outcry from the public, both for and against.

While groups like Equality Utah (local) and the Human Rights Campaign (national) both came out praising the Governor for his stance on civil rights, other groups like the Eagle Forum and the Sutherland Institute came out hard against Governor Huntsman.

Mike Thompson, Executive Director of Equality Utah, said in a statement to the Salt Lake Tribune that he wants to make it clear that civil unions are not actually a part of the current Common Ground Initiative. “Equality Utah specifically dropped it’s bill regarding the second portion of Amendment 3 to focus energy where common ground is clear,” Mr. Thompson said.

Many different groups, comments and email threads popped up on social networking sites, like Facebook. Many, including those started by All For One Initiative (Jacob Whipple), and PRIDE In Your Community (Me) asked members to write a quick note to the Governor thanking him for his brave stance, and posted a link to the State’s website to do so. But at the same time, groups like the Sutherland Institute also sent out threads to members asking them to do the exact opposite. “Governor Huntsman would rather be nice than right,” read the email they sent out, and they offered the same link to send the Governor not-so-nice comments.

What seems to be interesting about these different groups, is that while people like Gayle Ruzicka, Eagle Forum, Sutherland Institute and even many of Utah’s own legislators are bemoaning the loss of such a popular ally in their campaign against civil rights, the groups that praise Mr. Huntsman like Equality Utah are quick to point out just how ignorant their moans are.

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