PCC’s United Rainbow Alliance completely endorses same-sex marriage and proposal of a Marriage Equality Day, according to Professor A.C. Panella, the faculty advisor of URA.”Our group clearly supports extending marriage rights [for] religious and spiritual reasons, as well as equal access and protection,” said Panella.
This is contrary to the statements previously made by the Associated Student’s Vice President of External Affairs, Robert Morgan.
The AS discussed their position on the issue over the course of several meetings.
Ultimately it ended up choosing not to take a stance.
Panella said that having a marriage equality day would highlight the importance of marriage.
“For us to not stand behind marriage equality doesn’t make sense,” said Amanda Stone, co-vice president of the URA.
Morgan said in response, “This contradicts what I was told previously; if the issue is brought before [AS] again it will be taken into consideration.”
Morgan originally said, “I was made aware of information I was not aware of, if [the URA] on campus hasn’t endorsed [gay marriage] why should we?”
This was his reasoning for deciding to not take a stance on gay marriage.
Morgan says that he received the information from one of the AS advisors, but declined to say who.
The discussion about gay marriage has caused a good deal of controversy at some AS meetings.
It began with Nolan Pack, a member of the sustainability committee, presenting a proposal for a Marriage Equality Day.
“It strayed far from what I imagined it would be,” said Pack. “I was never asking AS to take a stance. it’s great if AS takes a stance, but it’s not what I intended.
- EDITORIAL: Apologize about the real problem - April 23, 2014
- STATEMENT: District apologizes to Oscar winning alum - April 21, 2014
- EDITORIAL: The Forgotten Students - March 26, 2014