Students send valentines to Ohio’s Attorney General for marriage equality
Ashanti Wallace
Contributing Writer
With Valentine’s Day approaching, it comes as no surprise that students at the College of Wooster would engage in initiatives to celebrate the wonderful season of love. The College of Wooster Democrats have proved to be no exception and are leaving their mark by holding a letter writing campaign. The event was held yesterday, Feb. 13.
The campaign allowed students to create Valentine’s Day cards in support of marriage equality, which will be sent to Ohio’s Attorney General Mike DeWine. The ultimate hope being that these letters will influence him to change his current opposition to marriage equality.
“We want to do everything we can to appeal to Mike DeWine who is in a position to make a tangible difference,” said current Vice President and next year’s President-elect for the Wooster Democrats, Luke Tonat ’15. Tonat went on to say, “If we can be compelling, direct and persuasive and help to precipitate the evolution of his position on this position then we will have truly accomplished what we set out to do with this event.”
And what better time to tackle such an issue than during one of the most romantic times of the year? Tonat added that, “With Valentine’s Day coming up, it only seemed natural to couple this with an event that is so integrally concerned with love.”
However, this event has more relevance beyond a mere holiday. Marriage equality is a prominent issue not only in the state of Ohio, but within our very own Wooster community.
In addressing why the issue of marriage equality is so important to Wooster student, Daniel Cohen ’14, former president of the College Democrats of Ohio as well as a current member of the Executive Board, told the Voice, “I think when one class of people is fundamentally being denied the rights of other classes of people then its important that people get involved.”
Andrea Patton ’14, president of the Wooster Democrats, added onto this point by reminding readers that, “There are members of the Wooster community who can’t marry the person that they love. And whether it’s right now or down the road, it’s going to affect our friends and family.”
In essence, there are people who will be impacted by this issue in ways that some do not realize or cannot even fathom at the time.
Despite this, however, the Wooster community has shown a great deal of support and nothing but positive energy towards the movement.
Still, the journey towards marriage equality does not end with Thursday’s event. While awareness is an effective tool for evoking change, there still needs to be a tangible difference in order to truly make progress. The College Democrats hope to see this change in the form of an amendment to the Ohio constitution in the upcoming 2014 elections that would then allow same-sex couples to marry in Ohio.
In November, there will be a state-wide referendum allowing the voters of Ohio to repeal a state constitutional ban on gay marriage that the Wooster Democrats are strongly encouraging everyone to rally behind the issue.
This, in combination with the various other advocacy events that the Wooster Democrats plan to hold in the future, will hopefully be attended in great numbers so that change will be in Ohio’s midst.