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Show Softball starts with Las Vegas tournament page 6 Couples who met at WSU page 4 AT A GLANCE EDITORIAL FEATURES SPORTS CLASSIFIEDS ... ... SignP 0 St WEBER STATE UNIVERSITY VOL 82 ISSUE 68 WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2012 WWW.WSUSIGNPOST.COM Students stage gay wedding - Weber getting `better' WSU to participate in "It Gets Better" online project \`‘',' , `kt. 2 3 4 6 11 *\,( By Laurie Reiner news reporter I The Signpost expected. WSU police were on hand in case of aggressive protests, but the assembled students responded positively. "I was not expecting, you know, applause and so many happy people!" Windsor said. "I was expecting more of a 'Strange. All right, I can work with that.' But to see so many happy people, applause and cheering, I was like, 'Yeah!' It really made the whole event much better." Stephen Colbert, President Barack Obama, Jane Lynch and more than 30,000 others have made videos for the It Gets Better Project, talking to people who are being bullied in schools, particularly LGBT youth. Weber State University is also joining in the project. The It Gets Better Project is to show support for the bullied LGBT youth and to help them get through their school years. These videos show children that life does get better after they get out of school and away from the bullies. The project was in response to the number of LGBT teen suicides that have been occurring over the past few years. The idea for WSU to get involved first started when Michael Vazquez, the residence hall senator, came across the website Itgetsbetter.org and showed President Obama's video to the other senators in student senate. Students have told senators that there have been problems with bullying at WSU. "There's been a lot of talk this year; the issue has been brought up to us quite a bit," said Kelsey Spaulding, the applied science and technology senator. "It's our See Wedding page 5 See Better page 5 PHOTO BY AMANDA LEWARK I THE SIGNPOST WSU juniors Cody Windsor (left) and Colten Marshall participate in a staged wedding ceremony as two grooms being married to each other. Center for Diversity and Unity hosts staged same-sex marriage By Stephanie Simonson managing editor I The Signpost Two brides and two grooms celebrated Valentine's Day with a symbolic walk down the aisle in the Shepherd Union Atrium. The brides joined hands not with the grooms, but with each other, as did the two men. Thomas Alberts, a member of the Diversity Board and the "Stop the H8" chair at Weber State University, coordinated the event, inviting students from WSU's GayStraight Alliance to act as the couples in a staged wedding ceremony. Kelsey Capoferri, WSU's GSA president and a creative writing junior, and Karlee Berezay, a sociology junior, were the brides, with anthropology junior Colten Marshall and radiology junior Cody Wmdsor as the grooms. The ceremony started at noon in front of a packed Atrium, followed by a panel discussion in the Center for Diversity and Uni- ty that ran until 1 p.m. "While not an official ceremony today, we are at a time in history where it is looking more and more possible for marriages to happen for all people who love each other," said Adrienne Gillespie, coordinator of the center. "That is a pretty amazing thing from my perspective." When the couples kissed after exchanging the traditional vows, the crowd clapped and cheered, a reaction Wmdsor said he hadn't How to avoid falling for a jerk By Chanoknun Xayvong correspondent I The Signpost In a sparsely populated classroom at the Weber State University West Center, Naomi Brower, an extension assistant professor, conducted a relationship workshop titled "How To Avoid Falling For a Jerk or Jerkette." Brower, who has been running this specific workshop since 2009, helped those in attendance learn how to not only find a suitable partner, but how to maintain a healthy relationship. Although the event is usually attended mostly by women, Bower said both genders would benefit greatly from the skills she discussed. "I went through a divorce, and I never want to go through that again," Brower said. "I wanted to help people avoid these relationship problems." Brower illustrated an example of a jerk and a jerkette through a video clip from the movie Return to Me and asked participants to share their view of how marriage has changed in recent years. "The purpose of marriage has changed over time," Brower said. "I See Jerk page 5 R.A.M. Relationship Attachment Model Know Trust II Rely Commit 141I PHOTO BY AMANDA LEWARK I THE SIGNPOST Naomi Brower teaches students how to assess the strength of their relationships using the R.A.M. model during a workshop at the Weber State University West Center in Roy, Utah. The workshop was titled "How To Avoid Falling For a Jerk or Jerkette." |