One ASU student has made it his mission to reopen the discussion of the same-sex marriage ban in Arizona.
Journalism junior Vaughn Hillyard’s organization Arizona Vote for Student Equality began in May with the goal of making voters and lawmakers reconsider the ban.
“Ultimately we want to create dialogue and get people talking across the state because a lot of times people don’t understand the other side of the issue. This goes so much deeper than just the words marriage and love,” Hillyard said. “It’s not just about waving rainbow flags. We want the older generations to hear the voices of the students.”
Should Hillyard realize his vision, students at ASU, UA and NAU will take part in AVSE by voting this spring to have their respective student bodies officially endorse same-sex marriage and equal rights.
Hillyard recently spoke with senators from the Undergraduate Student Government in regard to drafting legislation for this purpose. The USG could not be reached for comment. Beginning in spring 2012, AVSE will be working with state representatives to add a referendum to the Arizona Constitution to effectively reopen the topic of same-sex marriage.
In 2008, Arizona voters passed Proposition 102 by a 52 percent vote to create Article 30 of the Constitution, defining marriage in Arizona as a union between a man and a woman.
Secondary education junior and programmer for Residence Hall Association in Tempe Victoria Morrow has known Hillyard for two years and was very enthusiastic to assist him in his endeavor.
“I just wanted to see awareness brought to some of these issues,” Morrow said. “It’s important to recognize people as individuals and to allow them to love the way they want to love, and when Vaughn reached out to me, I saw that my organization could be an asset to his golden mission.”
AVSE is reaching out to several student organizations for support in addition to RHA, such as the LGBTQA Coalition, another force on campus aimed at promoting equal rights.
“(The Coalition) doesn’t focus so much on politics,” kinesiology junior and coalition co-director Jacqueline Chikos said. “We focus more on fun activities and awareness events.”
Though the coalition is less politically charged, they host a variety of major awareness events each year such as Day of Silence and National Coming Out Day.
Hillyard said in teaming up with like-minded organizations, such as LGBTQA Coalition and RHA, sweeping reform for Arizona same-sex marriage bans would be possible.
Reach the reporter at doberhau@asu.edu Click here to subscribe to the daily State Press newsletter.
