I Friday, Feb. 12, 2010 Couples lock lips for love By Caftlin Burnham COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Valentine’s Day is for lovers, and some groups on campus want to make sure that includes non-traditional couples, too. Today is the annual Kiss Out. sponsored by the LGBTQA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Tt-ansgender, Queer and Allies) Student Alliance. At about noon. 20 to 30 people will lock lips with their significant other at the bot tom of the steps in the HUB Robeson Center, said Alex Yates, co-president of the LGBTA Student Alliance. Yates (junior secondary education) said the group does this to bring attention to different types of couples. “Every couple matters, and we just want to support love for every couple out there,” he said. Ten miles away, as part of Freedom to Marry Week, several gay and lesbian couples will apply for marriage licenses at the Willowbank Building in Bellefonte knowing that they will be refused a license, organizer Audrey Smith said. Smith, the supervisor of ship ping and receiving at the Penn State animal diagnostic lab. said the couples will walk into the Soles4Souls collects hundreds of shoes for Haiti By Alyssa Sweeney FOR THE COLLEGIAN Every variety of shoe imagina ble could be found in a heap in a racquetball room of the White Building Thursday clogs. Crocs, cleats, spats, slippers and Nike Shocks. Jamie Cox smiled as he held up a pair of flashy electric blue bas ketball shoes. "Some little kid in Haiti is going to feel like the coolest kid in town with these on." he said. Along with two other people. Cox spent Thursday boxing 535 pairs of FRIDAY & SATURDAY 10:30 PM-3AM A. $1 Pirn slices* Give your loved one best Valentine’s Day from avant garden C, artistic flora! desiqr. Roses Valentine gifts Plush animals V* and Same-day Delivery’! Order online at www.avantgardenfloral.com ! (814)-231-1212 242 E. Calder Way Open Sunday on Valentine’s Day! Weagan Kanagy Collegian Various students participate in last \ ear's fifth annual Kiss Out event in the HUB to celebrate Valentine's Da\ and raise awareness. building, ask to apply for a license, be refused and then walk out. She said she doesn't think it will change the minds of people already against gay marriage, but she hopes it will influence those who are uncertain. "We re hoping for people on the fence to start to think about the message we're going to be pre senting about why it's a civil right and why it should be allowed." Smith said. Yvette Lerma. University Park Undergraduate Association director of LGBTQA affairs, will be participating in both events. Lerma (senior-sociology) said she thinks Valentine's Day has always been an “extremely het ero-sexist holiday." By participat ing in the Kiss Out she hopes to make people aware of how show ing affection isn't as accepted for gay couples as it is for heterosex ual couples. “I think a lot of the time most heterosexuals or most individuals shoes to be shipped to Haiti for SolesiSouls, a nonprofit organiza tion committed to collecting unwanted shoes, sanitizing them and distributing them internation allv to those who need them. Cox (junior-management) said the effort is very important, as soil born illnesses are one of the lead ing causes of sickness in develop ing countries and 40 percent ot the world's population is without shoes. The project was originally intended to be a two-week commu nity service project in mid- November, but organizers kept Strike on a red head pin and win 3 FREE game 1 forget or take for granted how important affection is and how much privilege straight couples have with it." she said. Lerma said when she walks around campus holding her girl friend's hand, some people tend to react negatively. • We tend to get one or two dou ble-takes or glares depending on the situation or time of day. " Lerma said. Lerma also said she doesn't think marriage is the most impor tant right LGBT couples are denied But a lot of people don't realize the other rights they are denied when they are refused marriage, including hospital visi tation as well as federal tax advantages, she said. “There are more than 100 rights that come with marriage that 1 11 be denied with my partner when we apply to get married." she said reporter: cmbs3os@psu.edu extending the deadline after they saw how many people wanted to donate, said Ellis Mair. Class of 2000. When the earthquake hit Haiti in January: the trio decided they wanted to redirect the project toward the relief effort after seeing a photo of Haitian children reaching for siioes from relief workers. Cox said. Every shoe collected will reach Haiti within the next month, said Carly Maconaghy (junior-human development and family studies'. As they were packaging the * Make your a first impression Jfk count at spring Jjfjpk career events CUSTOM W ALTERATIONS #■ ■nen Mon -Fn U ■ ■. anointment necessary I 1 N Atherton St (814)238-8721 90-day plan ends By Casey McDermott COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER After laying out a 90-dav plan in December, student government officials admit much has yet to be completed -- including publiciz ing the benchmarks they've set for themselves. At this point, some University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA) members said they have lagged in accomplishing the ini tiatives outlined in the 16-page plan. And the timeline original ly intended to be available for public access remains absent from the group's Web site. Chief of Staff Matt Smith said the Web site is currently at capac ity and has encountered difficul ties adding more material to it. but he assured students that there was never an intention to withhold information. "We probably could have put up a disclaimer saying [that] you could have requested it, but that was not considered." Smith (sen ior-international politics) said. In November. President Gavin Keirans proposed formulating 90- day plans to promote greater accountability, productivity and transparency. Each committee chairperson, along with Keirans himself and several other members of the executive board, was responsible for outlining a week-bv-week plan for accomplishing their initiatives for the 2009-2010 vear. shoes, many students passed by and asked about the project. Several promised to run back with a few pairs of their own before the three left for the post office. Since they got such a positive response, organizers plan on hav ing another collection later this spring or next semester. Cox said. Project Haiti President Alain Bonny has visited Haitian orphanages while on mission trips in the past, and he said the children there are in desperate need of shoes. The Daily Collegian Facilities Fee Committee Chairman Nick Mance said he and his committee “admittedly have not been following it very closely." but said I heir work is often contingent upon factors not easily accounted for 90 days in advance "It's easier lor Academic Affairs, Governmental Affairs. Internal Development to look at the beginning ot October and say. 'This is what we should be doing in January or in Februarv.' Mance 'senior-health policy and administration; said. “For my committee, it lias been difficult." But Governmental Affairs Chairwoman Colleen Smith gave the same excuse, saying her com mittee is also subject to outside factors that make some initia tives difficult to complete on time. Same with Director of Assembly- Services Samantha Miller, who said her plans retarding Legal Services and the freshman hand book were not accomplished on schedule because of unforeseen legislative and administrative delavs. That said, she still supports having a public plan. “Overall, it was a very effective way of having representatives and executive members put pen to paper to map out exactly what they wanted to accomplish within those (M) days." Miller (senior political science' said. To e-mail r epo *25 l nlimitt'ri monthly TRI I 7 MINI IT TAWIV. SPRAY 7ANNM AMIABLE Hi: uron/j? I \\M\(, « < > 319 K. Rear Beaver Avenue. Stair (Allege (81-*! 238-4080 t .(H’ai'sl fvhin-1 i ill None <lnvimerv ;uni ]})«' (-irui*-rl>rr‘ini Man m cmms773@psu.edu
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