In the spirit of March Madness, what District 2 Utah State Senator Jim Dabakis did was run out the clock. Three minutes left in Utah's state legislative session and an anti-gay amendment was on the agenda. The amendment, from anti-gay from LaVar Christensen, would have barred same-sex couples from being joint tenants for tax purposes. This bill, Senate Bill 252, had already passed once but it needed the senators to agree with the new changes. The new changes were instituted by Christensen. When Senate President Wayne L. Niederhauser asked for the roll call vote, Dabakis stalled by clearing his throat, sneezing, fumbling his words and pondering his vote. Realizing the stalling tactics, Niederhauser said "Passing, passing, go to the next one. C'mon, let's go." But when the clerk called Niederhauser said "Aye, but we ran out of time. All right, we're done." Dabakis' mini filibuster worked.
District 32 Utah state Senator LaVar Christensen
The Utah state Senate was scheduled to vote on an anti-gay amendment this past Thursday. This private bill was voted on before and passed. District 32 Utah state Senator LaVar Christensen amended the bill and the changes needed to be voted on. The majority leader District 9 Utah state Senator Wayne L. Niederhauser held a roll call vote. Openly gay District 2 Utah state Senator Jim Dabaski made a desperate shot to not have this bill passed. He showed a lot of courage to stand up and have a mini filibuster. To bar same-sex couples from being joint-tenants for tax purposes when same-sex couples can is sickening. This vote will do great things against the discrimination of the LGBT community. Dabaski should be praised for his act of courage.
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