A House committee voted 8-4 along party lines Friday to move the publicly heated "student clubs" bill onward.

The bill would give schools authority to deny use of their buildings for clubs that encourage criminal conduct, promote bigotry, involve human sexuality or involve some type of mental health therapy without a license.

Those rules are already included in many school policies, but the bill would expand them to a statewide level.

Many see the bill as a threat to gay-straight alliances already in place at some Utah schools including Provo High School, though Rep. Aaron Tilton, R-Springville, said that's not what it's about.

After 20 people on both sides of the issue made points mostly regarding the operation of gay-straight alliances, Tilton said they failed to speak to the bill or its effect. Tilton said the bill was drafted to protect schools from potential lawsuits should they try to shut down a club that broke the rules.

"There is a tendency to not pay attention to clubs that are against the rules," Tilton said. Putting the policies in statute would put legal defense in the hands of the Attorney General's Office and take the pressure off of schools that hesitate to enforce their own code, Tilton said.

Attorney General Mark Shurtleff testified in favor of the bill, resolving some legislators' concerns it might be viewed as unconstitutional.

"This does not outlaw gay student alliance type clubs," Shurtleff said. "Our concerns were taken care of."

The second part of the bill requires parental consent for students to participate in any club. The consent forms would have to include the name of the club, as well as a description of activities.

But Steve Peterson, director of the Utah School Boards and Superintendents Associations, said schools already do that. He called the bill an "unnecessary encroachment."

Rep. Carol Spackman-Moss, D-Holladay, questioned having permission slips at all.

"Do you really think that those permission slips will always be valid?" she asked. "Teenagers do things their parents don't always know about. That's part of being a teenager."

Despite Tilton's assertions the bill wasn't about gay-straight alliances, many from the committee and the public spoke as if it was.

"Fundamentally, his philosophy is based in homophobia, and it's couched in a clever bill," said Daniel Holsinger, a BYU graduate now attending medical school at the University of Utah. "It's clear that there is more at stake here."

Student representatives from Hunter and West High School gay-straight alliances echoed sentiments that their clubs never discussed sexuality, but were sanctuaries for students with no other place to go.

"People would have you believe the clubs are about sexuality," said Hal Newman, a GSA adviser at Hunter High School. "It is about safety, tolerance, diversity and education."

The bill now moves to the House for debate.