Utah Gov. Huntsman signed Student Clubs Act requiring parental consent to join school clubs; sponsor said it targets gay-straight alliances

On March 9, 2007, Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. signed HB236, the Student Clubs Amendments (codified as the "Student Clubs Act," Utah Code 53A-11-1201 et seq.), into law as Session Law Chapter 114, effective April 30, 2007. The enrolled bill, chief-sponsored in the House by Rep. Aaron Tilton, R-Springville, with Sen. D. Chris Buttars as Senate sponsor, requires written parental or guardian consent before any student may join a curricular or noncurricular school club, and permits school officials to deny authorization for a club on grounds including protecting the "moral well-being of students," maintaining "the boundaries of socially appropriate behavior," or if the club's activities "involve human sexuality." It also requires any nonschool materials distributed at a club meeting be turned over to school administrators within 24 hours for parental review.

During a February 23, 2007 conference committee meeting reported by the Deseret News, Tilton said the compromise version of the bill was "pretty much the bill he originally drafted," which "makes it easier for schools to deny noncurricular clubs like gay-straight alliances." A Democratic state senator, Scott McCoy, D-Salt Lake, unsuccessfully sought to strike the "socially appropriate" language during the conference committee, warning it was "squishy, broad language" that other school districts could use to ban gay-straight alliances (GSAs), unlike the Granite School District language it was drawn from. The ACLU of Utah separately warned the standards could let schools discriminate against GSA content in violation of the federal Equal Access Act. Because a parent must consent before a minor joins a club, the law also functions as a forced-outing mechanism for students seeking to join an LGBTQ-support club who are not yet out to their families.