Same-sex Homecoming bill at University of North Texas left to student vote

by Carolyn Brown of North Texas Daily

DENTON — Students will soon decide whether same-sex or gender-neutral couples have the right to run for Homecoming court.

After weeks of controversy centered on the Student Government Association’s rejection of the same-sex Homecoming bill, the student senate approved a referendum during Wednesday’s meeting allowing students to vote on the issue.

“I would like to put faith in the student body,” SGA president Dakota Carter said. “I think this is an issue that needs to be decided by them, because they’ll be affected by it, and I think they need to express their opinions.”

The referendum will be held sometime in mid-November.

The change comes after Homecoming court winners were announced Saturday.

If students vote “yes,” the senate must pass the bill before the end of the spring semester. The referendum would allow same-sex couples to run for Homecoming court in fall 2010.

If students vote “no,” the senate will not consider the bill until summer 2010 at earliest.

The senate members debated the wording of the resolution, but the final version made the students’ vote binding on the SGA.

The resolution was approved 22 to 1, but students who attended the meeting expressed mixed opinions.

Davlin Kerekes, a social work senior, said she disagreed with the idea of the referendum.

“Equality is not something to be voted on at all,” said Davlin Kerekes, a social work senior. “The rights of a minority should not be put to the vote of the majority.”

English graduate student April Murphy spoke up several times at the meeting and said she was pleased with the senate’s decision.

“We came here with a lot of disparate groups with a lot of tension, and we opened up a discussion and dialogue, and through it we came to a solution that we can agree with,” Murphy said.

Speaker Pro Tempore Jessika Curry was the only student senate member to vote against the referendum.

Curry said she didn’t agree with its binding condition.

“There’s a lot of student body turnover,” she said. “There will be thousands of students gone and thousands more come before we can consider any new legislation and I don’t think that was the best way to achieve the same result, but I do encourage everyone to vote.”

Sen. Meghan Hudec for the college of public affairs and community service voted for the resolution and said she would work to get her constituents involved.

“It gives students a chance to say what they want, which is what we’re here for, to be their voice,” she said.

The senate also confirmed Jerrod Ballard, a criminal justice junior, as an SGA Supreme Court justice.

The SGA supreme court struck down a bill on Oct. 20 that made it more difficult for students to vote senators out of office.

The senate complicated the removal process at a previous meeting after outraged campus groups protested the rejection of the same-sex Homecoming bill.

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