Gov. Huntsman should have vetoed House Bill 236, which masquerades as a parental rights bill but is really just another feel-good message bill from the reactionary wing of the Legislature.

It was originally cooked up by Rep. Aaron Tilton of Springville and Sen. D. Chris "Message Bill" Buttars to stop the formation of gay-straight alliance clubs in high schools. After six modifications and an eleventh-hour resurrection at session's end, it ends up as a rather lame pean to the authority of the state.

Typical of other message bills, this one wasted a great deal of the Legislature's time -- all the more because the powers it invokes were already available to local school districts, and the behavior it sought to prohibit was already prohibited.

The most moralistic of school administrators may be able to more easily suppress free speech and association. But, by and large, this law will mean nothing except a bunch of extra paperwork for those wanting to start a school club.

Among the not-so-earth-shaking provisions of this bill: "Curricular and noncurricular clubs may not conduct activities or hold discussions that are outside the scope of the club's stated purpose, goals, and activities." This means that you cannot plan homosexual trysts as part of club activities on school property.

But how can you keep young Americans from speaking their minds or associating with whomever they choosefi

You can't, and you shouldn't.

Seeing the First Amendment land mine, the sponsors of the HB 236 cleverly gave themselves an escape clause. The law now reads: "A student's spontaneous expression of sentiments or opinions otherwise identified in Subsection 53A-13-302(1) is not prohibited."

Translation: A student can announce his or her sexual preference if he or she wants to. And students can "spontaneously" talk about sexual preferences in general if they want to. Thus this bill will not "solve" the original "problem" of high school students associating with gay classmates or expressing their opinions about sexuality.

Discussions of sex as part of an approved club activity were already prohibited. So why was this law neededfi Because it makes people like Tilton and Buttars feel better. Most of us can roll our eyes. If these gentlemen think they have achieved victory over student speech and behavior, they need to look again. Informal gay-straight social groups will continue to form off the radar. Students will continue to speak their minds.

We neither endorse nor reject gay-straight clubs, though if sufficient student interest exists, they should be tolerable. We suggest that they simply don't matter in the grand scheme of secondary schooling. The larger principle is that high schoolers should have the opportunity to govern themselves within reasonable bounds without "the grownups" calling all the shots.

If the Legislature felt that gay-straight clubs were morally intolerable and must be stamped out, it could have easily left the whole issue in the hands of parents and obtained the desired result. Given Utah's conservative leanings, it's the only check that was ever needed.

Case in point: In 2005, controversy erupted at Provo High School over the formation of a gay-straight alliance club. After thoughtful consideration, the school board struck a balance by requiring parental approval uniformly for student participation in any club. The result was that the nascent gay-straight club fizzled.

Provo's decision was properly made at the local level, not by some super school board. The state Legislture did not need to weigh in. Everything worked out quietly and legally. Simply put, it was no big deal from an administrative perspective.

So then it's fair to ask, Why was the big hammer of state law needed to swat this flyfi It wasn't.

Tilton objects to the characterization of his bill as anti-gay. This is brassy of him, given the history, and we do not blush as we remove his fig leaf. It is fair to say that Tilton's measure sets up authoritarian controls over all clubs that he and Buttars hope will have the effect of preventing the formation of gay-straight clubs. They didn't care that they unfairly burdened a whole range of traditional school clubs to promote their agenda.

Gov. Huntsman should not have been taken in by such sleight of hand. He should have taken a stand for common sense.

For heaven's sake, let our high school students think for themselves. Let them grow up.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A6.

Do you agree?