Obama Gets the Vote
Current Bloomsburg University students shared why they will be giving their vote to President Barack Obama in the upcoming election, instead of Republican candidate Gov.Mitt Romney.
Gay marriage has been a concern for many homosexual people for a very long time. Constantly being judged and denied the right to marry the one they love, they feel comfort from President Obama.
President Obama stated to CNN that he feels “marriage equality strengthens families.” He believes that a family made up of a man and a woman, man and a man, or woman and a woman is still a family. All pairs are capable of creating a caring and loving environment for their children to grow up in.
This caught many students’ attention here at Bloomsburg. One student, a current senior named Sara Kaufman, said her vote is now altered by President Obama’s support for gay marriage. Kaufman is a strong believer that you should be able to marry anyone you want and the fact that a president could make that impossible is a scary thought. “I am personally not interested in the same sex, but I feel it should be an option if it makes you happy.” This was a consistent thought from a few other seniors.
It was a surprising find to discover that people who aren’t homosexual still strongly support those who are and their rights as Americans. The idea that Romney could be elected and potentially ban the marriage for gay couples is making citizens fear his presidency. Some students were actually surprised that Romney would admit to his true feelings on gay marriage. They found it strange, knowing he would lose the vote to members of the gay community.
Senior, Megan Sell states that “Romney is losing a lot of votes by opposing to gay marriage.” LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) is a worldwide group who support and strongly believe in gay marriage. This group goes on walks and has many events to help the support for gay marriage grow even more, and when they discovered Romney’s opinion, Sell believes their votes were probably swayed.
The 2012 presidential election is a very big deal to younger generations. Here at Bloomsburg it has become very obvious that more and more students are caring about who is going to take over our country for the next term. There are chances to register to vote almost anywhere you look. There will even be a voting poll convenient for students on campus to cast their vote, and not miss the opportunity to elect a leader that will fulfill our needs and concerns at US citizens. The fact that Obama supports gay marriage and Romney is more opposed to the idea raised a lot of emotions.
Friends of people who are gay, such as senior Michele Leo, agreed with Sell in that a lot of votes were swayed when hearing the opinion of Romney. This doesn’t just effect the people out there who wish to engage in gay marriage, but this effects people who strongly believe that here in America we should be able to do whatever we want. “It’s a feeling of being restricted,” says Leo, “and that’s not how it should be in 2012.”
It seems like the students of Bloomsburg University who have any friendship with someone who is lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender are keeping their votes the same as their friends. This shows that if the students of a university are sticking together in their favor of gay marriage, than other universities are probably doing the same. This also means that other gay affiliations will give their vote to Obama over Romney. Romney should of kept his opinion of gay marriage under wraps until Election Day, although Americans probably would have been disappointed with the disloyalty prior to election, it’s a lose-lose for Romney.
