UNT Students Vote on Gay Homecoming Court
Vote will decide whether to crown homecoming king & king or queen & queen
By STACY MORROW
Updated 8:00 PM CST, Mon, Nov 16, 2009
University of North Texas students will vote this week to decide if same-sex couples can run for homecoming court.
Couples, rather than individuals, run for homecoming court at UNT. The student Senate voted earlier in the semester to not allow gay couples to compete for homecoming court, but that decision led to protests from some students.
So the student Senate approved, with a 22-1 vote, a measure that called for a referendum on the question. Now it's up to the student body to decide.
"We're educated people; we're going to vote the way we believe this should turn out, and I'm putting faith in them to decide this and make sure that the right thing happens," said Dakota Carter, UNT's student government association president.
Carter said gay men and women have run for homecoming court in the past, just not as same-sex couples.
UNT student Nadia Brown said she's fine with seeing same-sex couples in the homecoming court.
"If an organization is comfortable with having king and king or queen and queen, then let them have it," she said. "We shouldn't have to deny someone that experience because of their sexual orientation."
Cirzy Gonzalez, another UNT student, said she prefers to stick with tradition.
"It's the fact that it's a king and a queen," she said. "A boy and a girl should run, it's not about discrimination at all."
The voting began Monday and runs through Friday on the student government's Web site: www.untsga.com.
If the students vote for the change, it would take effect next year.
First Published: Nov 16, 2009 7:48 PM CST
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