Posted on 11/02/2006 2:32:26 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
Ask the typical college student in Wisconsin who is running for governor, and you may get a blank stare. Ask about the marriage amendment, and the response is sure to be animated.
Rich Orton, a senior who moderated a debate at Marquette University on Monday between speakers for and against the amendment, acknowledged in his opening remarks that the measure, on the ballot in Tuesday's election, has students riled up.
"I know," he told the nearly 400 students in attendance, "that people here hold very strong opinions."
The amendment would define marriage as a union between a man and a woman and prevent the state from recognizing "a legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals."
Many young Wisconsin voters say the issue has engaged them more than any political race this year.
Opponents mobilized by Fair Wisconsin, the leading group against the amendment, have been active at college campuses across the state, donning T-shirts that say "Vote No," plastering student unions with fliers and scribbling their message in chalk on sidewalks.
"They've been good at getting the word out," acknowledged Marquette junior Sarah Kirby, a supporter of the amendment.
Darryn Beckstrom, a political science graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and campus coordinator for the Family Research Institute of Wisconsin, has been working largely at private colleges to mobilize students who favor the amendment.
Long-range effect
Beckstrom said young voters understand the permanence of the amendment and that supporters want to preserve the traditional meaning of marriage.
"Governors come and go, but this amendment is going to be here to stay if it passes," she said.
Unlike with races for political office, young voters say, it is easy to form an opinion about the marriage amendment.
"You don't have to follow candidates to know where you stand," said Becky Manz, a Marquette sophomore who opposes the amendment.
Having grown up in an age where gay, lesbian and bisexual alliances were commonplace in high schools, others question why some policy-makers are focused on same-sex marriage instead of what they see as more pressing issues - such as the war in Iraq or health care. They think it is unfair to deny same-sex couples the right to marry.
"Everyone has the right to be happy," Manz said.
Party leaders said the youth vote in Wisconsin is an important segment to capture, because turnout rate among young voters is among the highest in the nation. In the 2004 presidential election, 63% of eligible voters between ages 18 and 24 in Wisconsin cast ballots.
While voter turnout across the board normally dips during midterm elections, get-out-the-vote activists on college campuses say the marriage amendment has the potential to propel young voters to the polls. Young Voter Strategies in Washington, D.C., reports that nearly 10,000 new young voters registered in Wisconsin this year, and same-day registration could drive that number higher.
'Big issue'
"It's a big issue for students," Jacob Warren said of the marriage amendment. He's a UW-Milwaukee senior who has been registering students to vote.
Rick Wiley, executive director of the Republican Party of Wisconsin, isn't convinced the amendment is any more important to young voters than other issues, such as tuition increases and job creation.
Opponents of the marriage amendment describe it as the civil rights issue of their generation, and the crowd against the amendment has been especially active at UW-Madison.
"When you have a base of support from people who view the issue in that way, it's the heart and soul of the campaign," said Andy Gordon, campus organizer for Fair Wisconsin at UW-Madison, where he is a junior.
A kickoff meeting in September of a campus chapter of Fair Wisconsin attracted more than 350 people. A group on the popular social networking site Facebook called "A Fair Wisconsin Votes No!" boasts more than 11,500 members. And teams of students gather at 6:15 a.m. a few days a week to drop 6,000 pieces of literature in the biggest lecture halls on campus.
Beckstrom acknowledged that UW-Madison has been a stronghold for Fair Wisconsin but said students at private colleges, some with religious affiliations, are more likely to favor the amendment.
Voter registration and educational efforts have been targeted mostly to those campuses, she said. Nonetheless, her group also has helped organize speakers for debates at campuses across the state and put together a recent discussion at the UW-Madison's St. Paul University Catholic Center about the Catholic Church's position in favor of the amendment.
Internet interest
A Web group on Facebook.com in favor of the amendment - I Got a problem with Same Sex Marriage. Vote Yes! - has attracted more than 600 members. Among them is Brady Hundt, a UWM sophomore, who said: "I think gay marriage is just wrong."
Marquette sophomore Nathan Cinefro gave up Bible study to attend Monday night's debate and left convinced that the institution of marriage would be in jeopardy should the amendment fail. He said he feels so strongly about it that he plans to vote in Wisconsin rather than his home state of Illinois.
"This is an issue I care about," Cinefro said.
Theo Braden, a Marquette junior, said he is heading to the polls because he thinks it would be immoral to deny gay couples the right to marry.
"I could care less about the governor's race, but I have a strong stand on this," Braden said.
"Vote Early, Vote Often" Ping!
"Everyone has the right to be happy," Manz said.
What are they teaching now? Where is that right? Is that in the "living" Constitution?
I believe it's in the UN charter.
I was at the Roosevelt Memorial in DC last spring (I was there to see the cherry blossoms) and the words on the memorial were pretty much to that effect.
The tip of the iceberg. These kids have been propagandized ENDLESSLY about celebrating so-called "diversity," which used to mean something about race but now means something about sexual behavior. Any kid who escapes from this madness without losing his morals has to have come from a very strong family background.
You've nailed it.
If you started kindergarten with King and King or something similar, and progressed through to college with the nonsense most of the state colleges are teaching, then really, what else are you going to conclude? The defense against this being churches and religious organizations, so many youth groups are more concerned with the latest hollywood blockbuster or practicing mysticism than they are with pursuing holiness and building a strong foundation in God's Truths that they are really no kind of defense at all.
I still say all the amendments will pass.
translation, recruiting by homosexuals is common.
this is a puff piece most students think homosexuals are freaks and deviants and that PC keeps them from telling the truth.
Pursuit is too difficult for the mushy little minds to understand, so it's been dropped.
"...this is a puff piece most students think homosexuals are freaks and deviants and that PC keeps them from telling the truth."
I don't disagree in the least. I've spent a good deal of my child's lifetime keeping him and my gay sister apart. Not that I feel she's going to "recruit" him, but that he has some very STRONG opinions on the subject, LOL! (He's 19. He agrees with your "freak" analysis.)
And for the record, I do too, but I just choose to not mix it up with my sister because she outweighs me by 200 lbs. ;)
""Everyone has the right to be happy," Manz said.
What are they teaching now? Where is that right? Is that in the "living" Constitution?"
Yes, she must be confused. The line is "Life, liberty, and the PURSUIT of happiness." There are no guarantees or rights TO happiness.
Anybody could be Gay! You could be Gay and not even know it! You could be happily married for years, with kids, and be "born Gay" and not know it! But you are only fooling youself, you are "repressed" and "in denial" because of decades of Homophobia!!!!
How can you tell if you're Gay? What is the scientific test?
All it takes is for a Gay person to see you and be attracted to you, and being used to instant gratification as they are, will move heaven and earth to break up your marriage in order to convince you that you are Gay!
It's all about "feelings" -- the Gay person's feelings. You, as a "heterosexual" "repressed" "homophobic" "really secretly Gay and don't know it" have no feelings of your own unless your "feelings" satisfy the Gay person's urges.
Satan is very unhappy when there are people who resist temptation. That is why Satan, who already owns all the souls in the public schools and most of the Catholic schools, now has to target on the yeshivos and the home-schooled.
Satan needs fresh meat.
Did you happen to lose a husband to a gay man? LOL!
Just kidding. Excellent rant, and right on the mark. ;)
and all it takes is one left wing federal judge to wipe it out.
Yep. We've seen that, haven't we?
My husband has been hit on by gay men. He had to chase them away with a shotgun.
Whatever happened to "you can't do wrong and feel right"? Or as I was taught "Wickedness never was happiness".
ping to the list
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