2008 Woodie Awards
USM's Gay Straight Alliance participated in a national protest Saturday afternoon on the south sidewalk of Hardy Street in response to California voters' approval of Propostion 8, an amendment to the state's Constitution defining marriage as being between a male and a female.
According to a Los Angeles Times report, 60 percent of California voters supported a similar proposition during the 2000 elections, when Proposition 22 defined marriage as being between a man and a woman. In May, the California Supreme Court overturned that proposition and thousands of same-sex couples married in the following months.
During the elections two weeks ago, 52.2 percent of voters, over 6 million people supported the new proposition, according to a Los Angeles Times report.
Anna Davis, a senior public relations major from Houston, said the GSA held the protest in Hattiesburg because, while Mississippi legislation supporting gay marriage may be "far-fetched," the amendment in California ruined a dream for many in the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community.
"You would think, at least in California, we would have equality," Davis said. "So it's kind of a slap in the face, and not just for California, but for everybody … A lot of people move out there because they think they're going to be equal, but then something like Prop. 8 passes."
Davis said the amendment is comparable to discrimination, and that calling same-sex marriage a civil union is an example of "separate but equal."
"Separate but equal has never worked," Davis said. "You'd think we would learn from our history."
