Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton and Ald. Eli Judge, District 8, urged students to vote for local and national candidates who support LGBT rights at a rally Wednesday on Library Mall.
LGBT rights advocacy group Fair Wisconsin sponsored the rally as part of its Go All the Way on Election Day"" campaign to encourage students to vote through the entire ballot, especially at the state level.
""The only way to change the leadership in the state Assembly is to get rid of those unfair state Assembly members '¦ and to get students from around Wisconsin to again vote all the way down the ballot,"" Fair Wisconsin director Glenn Carlson said.
Christine Callsen, Fair Wisconsin finance and communications director, said electing a ""pro-fairness"" state Legislature is particularly important to protect the rights of gay and transgender people in Wisconsin.
Judge co-founded Students for a Fair Wisconsin in 2006 to build student opposition to the gay marriage ban that passed in that year's referendum.
""We as students have an undeniable legacy to fight for what is right,"" Judge said. ""The state Legislature is the first step. It's the spear that we need to start reversing the effects of the ban.""
Lawton said local politicians must also fight discrimination to uphold equality in the state because civil rights are the basis of a democracy.
""If we are going to attract and retain the best and the brightest to drive our state forward, it can't be [restricted to] the best and the brightest unless you happen to be gay, lesbian, bisexual [or] transsexual,"" Lawton said.
Teddi Hereid, a UW-Madison sophomore and Fair Wisconsin student organizer, said she hopes students' concern over the issue of gay rights will increase voter turnout.
UW-Madison College Democrats Chair Claire Rydell, expressed concern over students who don't consider casting their ballot to be important enough to wait in long lines at the polls.
""They don't think their vote matters, but it does,"" she said.
