Sometimes in the chaotic echo chamber that is the blogosphere, local battles that need help and support from around the country get lost under the sexy national battles. Here is one of those battles.
This week students at the University of North Texas are voting on whether to allow same sex couples to run for homecoming court. The vote is the culmination of a long struggle by campus organizers to secure same sex couples the right to be treated equally by the University. This may seem like a small battle for a not particularly important issue (I mean most of the organizers and students don't care much about homecoming), but the fact that we have to fight for this shows we have to fight for even the smallest rights for our LGBT brothers and sisters.
This all started when the Student Government Association of UNT voted 10-5 with 8 votes abstaining to ban same sex couples from running for homecoming court. Many voted this way because some notable alumni stated that they would stop donations to the University if LGBT couples were allowed to win homecoming court.
Then students took action...
The week after the National Equality March in DC and across the nation, UNT students rallied and marched into the next SGA meeting carrying rainbow flags chanting "what do we want-EQUAL RIGHTS-when do we want them-NOW" and demanded the reversal of the vote to ban same sex couples from winning homecoming court. The protesters added a threat to remove Senators who voted for the ban or abstained. Police escorted the protesters out peacefully with no arrests.
After the protesters left, the SGA freaked out. They decided to change the rules about removing Senators, raising the number of signatures needed on a petition and adding that the removal would ultimately be decided by the SGA Supreme Court. This created widespread outrage immediately. Imagine the US Senate changing the rules of impeachment as soon as they saw that people were going to attempt to take them out. Later in the week this vote was ruled void, seeing that it was a massive abuse of power.
The SGA decided to put the issue up for a student popular vote. This seemed the easiest way to turn down the pressure on campus and take the blame off of themselves. Putting the rights of a minority up for a vote by the majority.
The issue has gotten wide spread local coverage by all local TV and newspapers. Just search "UNT Same Sex" on the news section of google and you will get a taste.
Reaction has been wide ranging, here's a few examples of comments from webpages related to this issue.
I support this action. I want to personally thank the organizers, participants, and those that have work behind the scenes for this and other actions. In addition, I'd like to give HUGE thanks to those who stayed during the action despite being asked to leave.
As a previous activist at the University of North Texas and Denton, TX, I am proud to see the sustained efforts of others continuing the struggle for equal rights and justice.
A Big Heartfelt Thank you,
Jason C. Waite
As an alum I am so sadden by the fact that this is happening at UNT. I am not gay but I have friends that are and I feel that this is a major form of discrimination. I am glad that they walked into that meeting and made the SGA hear their side. If I had been there I would have been right there with them. I am so sick and tired of this country treating homosexuality as something bad. We are all equal. Women, Men, Straight or Gay. Why not respect everyone? I applaud you guys for what you did.
these guys are pussies...if they were really fighting for equal rights and truly were trying to prove a point all of them would have walked out in handcuffs. we all know that the UNT SGA sucks balls, but then again just like our federal election system, only assholes vote 'to be heard'.
This issue is representative of a larger national debate where a portion of the population is unequal under the law and are discriminated against based on sexual orientation.
I am a gay student at UNT, but I am unsure about this. I don't see why a boy would want to be Homecoming Queen and a girl Homecoming King. It's more gender bias? It just seems like they are wanting attention in the wrong places. I'm all for gay marriage and rights. but this isn't a Gay right in my book.. this is causing a ruckess about nothing. And none of the gays I know goes to any of the Homecoming stuff anyways? It's whatever. All sounds high school-ish. I'm not voting for or against it.
If you would like to help, the best thing you can do is get this issue national attention. Keith and Rachel, I'm talking to you. Just getting more attention for this battle would help make sure more people vote in the election, and hopefully would inspire other Universities to allow same sex couples a chance to win homecoming court. If we can't win this, we'll never win Marriage Equality.
IF YOU ARE A STUDENT AT UNT PLEASE GO HERE TO VOTE!!!!