Students, alumni rally downtown against proposed amendment
Legislators to consider banning gay marriage, civil unions; students call it "hate"
by Jess Zimmerman
published in the May 7, 2004 edition of the Oshkosh North High School North Star
In a show of solidarity against a pending amendment to Wisconsin's constitution
many North students, alums and community members gathered at Opera House Square
on Sunday, May 2.
The proposed amendment, AJR 66, would prohibit same-sex marriages, civil unions
and all benefits granted therein.
The bill has already been approved once by the Wisconsin legislature and needs
to be approved again by the legislature next session, and then in a state wide
public referendum in 2005.
Joe Hendricks, a 2002 North graduate was present at the rally. "I felt
that it's time for us to take a stance against all the politics, all the rhetoric…"
said Hendricks of why he went, "If no one else says it, its just going
to continue the vicious cycle."
Kay Springstroh, a leader of the Queer on the Water (QH20) group said, "We
want people to realize how mean-spirited this amendment is. It's a blatant act
of discrimination and a smear on Wisconsin's good reputation of valuing diversity."
Kayla White a junior at North said she is avidly against the amendment because
she feels discriminated against. "One day I want to get married, and I'm
not going to marry a man. So I've got to protest now."
North junior Elizabeth Vidoni doesn't understand why it's such a big deal for
gays and lesbians to get married. "There's really no basis of why people
would be afraid of gays, they think what, 'Oh my god, there's not enough straight
people to have children, Jesus Christ! The world's going to end,' said Vidoni,
"We have six billion people on this planet, we're not just waiting for
a plague to wipe a few hundred thousand out." A speaker at the rally, Mike
Hall, who is a businessman in the community, said that he spoke to "take
a stand against hate. This amendment, AJR 66, is hate, and nothing more."
Vidoni responded to the notion that gay marriage is endangering society by
saying, "It's not like they're going to go get married and do a double
homicide to celebrate. If people want to be happy, there's nothing wrong with
it."
In an Email sent to all the members of the Winnebago County Peace and Justice
Center, which includes many North students, it says "AJR 66 would be the
first time that the state's constitution is altered to prevent civil rights."
White said that she thinks that equal rights for gays and lesbians still have
a long way to go. "We should've been farther than this by now because people
have been okay with gays for how long, but yet we're still stuck in the prehistoric
age with law enforcement and rights."
Speaker Tony Palmeri, a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh,
was angered by the amendment. "What's going on with our legislature people,
I mean, they can't balance a budget, but they can discriminate against gay people.
They can't find a way to get universal healthcare for all of us, but they can
discriminate against lesbian people. They can't find a way to fully fund our
educational system, but they can discriminate against bisexual people. I mean,
what's going on? Gay and lesbian people come from all walks of life, they're
teachers, doctors, lawyers, yet they can't have equal rights. It's absurd. They
are fighting in Iraq, they are fighting in Afghanistan, and when they come home
they don't have equal rights. It's wrong," Palmeri said amidst applause.
Bob Poeschl, head of the Winnebago County Peace and Justice Center, which helped
organize the event, said, "the turnout was wonderful."
Poeschl also commented on those who attended the rally in favor of the amendment.
"I think it made it more fun, otherwise you're just preaching to the choir.
That's the great thing about America; it's the idea of invoking dialogue, and
some of that happened today."
The rally against AJR 66 was also used to criticize the leadership and law
enforcement in the state and country.
"The Wisconsin State Journal, one of the most conservative newspapers
in the state, said that we need courageous political leadership. We don't have
it," Palmeri said.
Hall said that he felt discriminated against and used by the politicians.
"As a gay man I am sick and tired of these so-called politicians using
my sexuality as a way to divide people, spread hate, and raise money for their
own political gains."
"I feel that it's a form of oppression," Poeschl said, "What
we're trying to do in the Wisconsin constitution is to put oppression into the
constitution. It's a plain injustice to say that a certain segment of society
should not have rights."
North sophomore Kim Wallace doesn't agree. "If they were to legalize gay
marriage and take away the benefits that a normal family would have that would
be helpful because they are not really a family," Wallace said, "I
think the amendment is good because gay marriage isn't right. I think it's finally
time that the government does something against it because I don't think its
correct that we have something like gay marriage as legal."
"Marriage is a holy sanctimony between a man and a woman," said senior
Chris Hert, "Not between a man and a man."
Vidoni said that she doesn't think the government should be making restrictions
about people's ability to be happy.
"If people want to be happy," Vidoni said, "Let them be happy.
There's nothing wrong with it."
"It's the civil rights movement of the millennium," Poeschl said.