Even though a statewide survey revealed a majority of Wisconsinites plan to vote in favor of the same-sex marriage ban, Students for a Fair Wisconsin is mobilizing the UW-Madison community to vote no and sway the final outcome of the Nov. 7 referendum.
The telephone survey was released last Monday. It was conducted Sept. 20-21 and sampled 600 likely voters on their opinions of the proposed constitutional amendment to prohibit marriage and deny legal recognition to any relationship substantially similar"" to marriage.
Fifty-three percent of respondents said they planned to vote in favor of the amendment, 39 percent said they would vote against it, and eight percent did not know or were undecided, according to a WisPolitics.
The response of the campus, however, is much different.
In a college town where there's hardly a student that cannot name a gay friend or classmate, there is a strong likelihood the vote of the campus will be no, said Joseph Elder, professor of the Intro to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Studies course.
""This amendment would be crushingly defeated with the students I deal with,"" he said. ""For this group, gay marriage is not a problem. The overwhelming sense I get from the class is, what's the big deal?""
Though attitudes of students are forward thinking, getting them to the polls is the biggest obstacle advocates of vote no attempt to tackle.
Students for a Fair Wisconsin, a UW-Madison student organization associated with the state-wide effort to establish equal rights, is instrumental in mobilizing the campus to vote no.
Their campaign is hard to miss. The group's distribution of over 31,000 pieces of literature and use of over 400 pieces of chalk, has reached nearly every student, said Eli Judge, co-chair of SFW.
In addition to waging a highly visual campaign, SFW presents the amendment as more of civil rights issue than strictly a LGBT issue, said Will Endres, a co-captain for SWF in Sellery.
For example, revealing that the amendment would guarantee UW-Madison faculty members never receive domestic partnership benefits and would overall hurt the UW system has helped Endres engage students.
""If I were to point to the number one reason students in this state are going to the polls, it would be that they want to fight against this ban,"" said Judge.
If a majority vote no on Nov. 7, Wisconsin would be the first state to successfully defeat the creation of a gay marriage ban.
Additionally, if the campus vote were what tips the outcome of the ballot, then UW-Madison students would be integral in shaping the nation's perspective on civil rights, Judge said.
