One, we want more
From the 99 percent Why Occupy
The Badger men’s hockey team earned its first win of the season in a split series with Northern Michigan. +SPORTS, page 8
Wall Street deserves more recognition. +OPINION, page 5
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Monday, October 10, 2011
Church ordains first openly gay minister Westboro Baptist Church protests, supporters of minister counter By Taylor Harvey The Daily Cardinal
The United States Presbyterian Church ordained the first openly gay minister in the nation Saturday morning at Madison’s Covenant Presbyterian Church, while both protesters and counterprotesters staged demonstrations outside. Scott Anderson, 56, was ordained as a minister in front of 325 people after he was removed from the U.S. Presbyterian Church because of his sexual orientation in 1990, a time when homosexuals were banned from clergy, The Wisconsin State Journal reported Saturday. The church’s regional governing council voted in May of this year to permit openly gay men and women to be ordained. “To the thousands of Presbyterians who have worked and prayed for almost 40 years
PHOTOS BY SHOAIB ALTAF AND AEVYRIE ROESSLER/the daily cardinal
Westboro Baptist Church, known for its anti-homosexual activism, protested an openly gay minister’s ordination and prompted a counter protest of about 100 people Saturday. for this, I give thanks,” Anderson told The State Journal. “And I give thanks for those who disagree with what we’re doing today yet
who know that we are one in Jesus Christ.” Anderson’s friends and supporters gave the newly ordained
Regents OK new building
Occupy Madison brings national protest to city By Samy Moskol The Daily Cardinal
System leaders approve Nursing School building By Anna Duffin The Daily Cardinal
The UW System Board of Regents approved building designs for a new $52.8 million UW-Madison School of Nursing facility Friday. Construction is expected to begin April 21, 2012 and to be completed by September 2014. The building will be located on the corner of Highland Avenue and Observatory Drive. According to the campaign’s website, the project is necessary for the School of Nursing to address the increased demand for nurses as the overall population ages. UW-Madison School of Nursing Dean Kathryn May said the building project will
nursing school page 3
minister a “thunderous standing ovation and began roaring with cheers,” according to the Associated Press.
Nine members of Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., an organization known for strong anti-homosexual activism and promotion, gathered outside the church to protest Anderson’s ordination. “Scott Anderson has no hope of heaven, and you know it. Yet, you refuse to tell him the truth and enable him in his sin,” the church said in a statement on its website. Anderson called the church’s protests a “sad, kind of sideshow,” but said, “they’re certainly entitled to their opinion,” according to The Wisconsin State Journal. In response to the WBC protests, about 100 counter protesters gathered outside the church. The counter protesters waved rainbow flags and ran a food drive in opposition to the WBC’s picket. “Let’s turn WBC’s negativity into something positive,” organizer Polly Shoemaker said on the counter-protest Facebook event page. “It may not be as fun as poking the crazy, but it’s better for everyone.” The church hired two Madison police officers to monitor the event, but no problems were reported.
SHOAIB ALTAF/the daily cardinal
Occupy Madison held its first general assembly meeting in Reynolds Park Friday.
What do they want?
The protest’s working demands, according to Occupy Madison fair and just economic • Asystem that benefits all
• Protection of the
Real democracy that allows • the voices of the 99 percent
An end the assault of the top 1 • percent on workers’ rights and
• The end of institutionalized
• End the wars and redirect
humanity not solely the 1 percent
to heard and acted upon
racism, sexism, homophobia and attacks on immigrants
environment, a sustainable economy and an end to reckless pollution repeal of all anti-union laws
military spending to social programs
As more protesters take to the streets in New York City, demonstrators brought the Occupy Wall Street movement to Madison over the weekend. The populist protests, which started in lower Manhattan Sept. 17 are based on the message that corporations and the wealthy have too much influence in politics. The Occupy Madison branch held its first general assembly meeting Friday at Reynolds Park, with roughly 200 people in attendance. Some protesters have been camping overnight, although they are not allowed to use tents or cook food. Madison police have a constant presence at the park. Volunteers discussed six demands at Saturday’s general assembly meeting. The list of demands included “a fair and just economic system” and “the end of institutionalized racism, sexism, homophobia and attacks on immigrants.” “It disgusts me that people
in power don’t realize that they’re hurting all of us, and I believe that America should help each other,” participant Ben Perreth said. Perreth, who suffers from Arteriovenous Malformation, a condition which caused him to have a hemorrhage at age 7, emphasized the need to preserve health-care programs like Medicaid without which, he said, “I’d be dead.” Another participant, David Gilbert-Pederson said the movement, which calls itself “The 99 percent silent majority,” is demanding government care about “human need more than corporate profit.” “There’s only one other percent [that] controlled both sides of the debate,” GilbertPederson said. UW-Madison history professor William Jones questioned whether the movement’s goals were too unfocused. While the collective bargaining protests had a direct “union
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“…the great state University of Wisconsin should ever encourage that continual and fearless sifting and winnowing by which alone the truth can be found.”