THE
S TUDENT PRINTZ www.studentprintz.com
SERVING SOUTHERN MISS SINCE 1927
Thursday, October 30, 2014
Volume 99 Issue 19
Non-profit, couples file lawsuit against Mississippi Mary Sergeant
Printz Reporter & Photographer On Oct. 20, a lawsuit was filed against Mississippi due to its provisions and statutes that deny gay couples the right of marriage and deny formal recognition of samesex marriages performed in other states. The plaintiffs of the case are petitioning Section 263A of Article 14 of the Mississippi Constitution and Section 931-1(2) of the Mississippi Code. They believe that these violate the 14th Amendment, which guarantees due process and equal protection for citizens of the United States. Of the five plaintiffs in the case, the first is the Campaign for Southern Equality. This group is a non-profit corporation based in North Carolina. According to the official case file, the corporation’s mission is to promote the full humanity and equality of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in America. The second and third plaintiffs are Rebecca “Becky”
Infographic by Cody Bass Source: Human Rights Campaign, ProCon.org In the U.S., 32 states have legal same-sex marriage and 18 states prohibit it. Mississippi constitutionally bans same-sex marriage.
Bickett and Andrea Sanders. Coast campus and have celebrated their The couple has resided in recently Mississippi for roughly 15 10th anniversary. Together, years. Both graduated Bickett and Sanders have from The University of 15-month-old twins, Owen Southern Mississippi Gulf and Adrian.
“By standing up for our rights and the right of our family, we are showing that we are just like any other family,” Sanders said. “We have kids, have debts, go
to school, pay taxes, get sick and love each other through everything.” In March 2014, Bickett and Sanders sought to obtain and
See EQUALITY, 3
NATIONAL
Non-citizens could affect election vote Jonathan Parr Printz Reporter
According to the Washington Post, a recent study suggested that people who are not citizens could affect the senatorial elections in November by saving Democrats in close elections. As of Oct. 28, the Republicans are expected to have a net gain of six seats, Independents are
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expected to gain one seat and the Democrats expect to have a net loss of seven seats in the Senate in the upcoming election cycle, according to ElectionProjection. com, a website that compiles polls and shows the current election landscape. Republicans expect to gain seats in Louisiana, Arkansas, Colorado, Montana, Iowa, South Dakota and West
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Virginia, with Independents currently having a marginal lead in Kansas. According to this study in the Washington Post, however, if enough non-citizens vote, the expected Republican win could be null, and Democrats could keep their Senate majority. While most non-citizens do not register to vote, enough do that their numbers could
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swing the results in a close race, according to the study. Using data from the Cooperative Congressional Election Study (CCES), the study concluded that 6.4 percent of non-citizens voted in 2008 and 2.2 percent voted in 2010. These votes highly favor Democrats, with Obama receiving more than 80 percent of non-citizen votes
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in 2008. “With the president’s approval rating plummeting, the non-citizen favor for Democrats may lessen, thus minimizing their own impact on the election’s results,” said Nathan Barron, a freshman political science major in the Honors College. The study asserts that non-
See NON-CITIZEN, 3
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SPORTS Football Weeks likely to start against Miners.