Dave Valk says he is leading a charge.
The fourth-year political science and sociology student is the director of Won Together, a student-run initiative in support of marriage equality in California and the group hosting 1FEST on April 19.
1FEST, currently awaiting funding from the undergraduate student government and the Campus Events Commission, aims to bring together the energy and activism of numerous campus student groups, along with that of students from all over California, and channel it into a single monumental movement for equal rights to marriage.
With an eye on the California Supreme Court proceedings regarding the legality of Proposition 8, Valk and his staff are working on spreading the word about their cause and event.
Won Together members spoke at public screenings of “Milk” on Thursday and Friday nights about the importance of the student voice in support of marriage equality. They collected lists of students who were interested in getting involved; around 200 students signed up, Valk said.
Won Together organizers have been quick to criticize the anti-Prop. 8 leadership, saying that the student voice has been wrongfully neglected.
“They’re playing by the old strategy. They’re not taking into account the young people across California. We’re energized. When you have a lot of young people with a lot of social capital, we cannot only reach a lot of people but we can communicate with them very quickly,” Valk said.
With a target budget of approximately $60,000, 1FEST organizers have their work cut out for them.
Last week Won Together organizers went before the Associated Students UCLA board of directors to request roughly half of their target budget.
To supplement whatever funding the university agrees to provide for the event, Won Together representatives have been soliciting donations from a number of individuals whose names the organizers were not willing to reveal.
“The board seemed receptive to it,” said Katie La Bouff, a second-year history student and assistant director of Won Together. “Because there are so many people applying for money this year, we don’t expect to get all of what we asked for.”
1FEST may also face logistical issues in collecting the attention of the very student groups it hopes to bring together.
“Unfortunately, we haven’t expressed much interest in providing resources, etcetera for 1FEST. We’re under-resourced right now and we don’t have a lot of people to put effort toward this,” said Danny Torres Lopez, fourth-year political science student and director of the Queer Alliance. “There are a lot of events going on that week that our members have a hand in. But we think it’s a positive and affirming event, and it has the potential to be very powerful.”
Valk said that Won Together is in the process of soliciting support from all of the most active campus student groups and that he sees it as an opportunity for groups diametrically opposed on certain issues to work together.
“Most groups have been really supportive of marriage equality. That’s not the issue,” he said. “I wouldn’t ask them to set aside their beliefs. What we’ve asked is if they could come together for 1FEST, and not just stand up for marriage equality, but stand up together.”
Won Together will be hosting a meeting today at 7 p.m. in the LGBT Center, and has asked that all students interested in getting involved meet at the bear in Bruin Plaza.