By Sonay Barazesh
BRJ Staff writer
BRJ Staff writer
Earlier this week, the U.S. Supreme Court of the United States reached a landmark decision that the Constitution guarantees the right to same-sex marriage. This decision was met with support of many young people all over the country. Coincidentally, this decision was made only days before CONA 2015 began.
Susanna Jaramillo from New Jersey was especially invested in the same-sex marriage debate and wrote her proposal on civil unions. “I think the decision was a long time coming and was an absolutely fantastic decision. Iʼm very very proud to be an American at this point in time,” she said.
Jaramillo was not alone in her support of the decision. Delegates from all over the country agree, including delegate Adam Casillas from Maine. “I am all in favor for it,” he said. “I am very happy for those who can now legally be married. I think it affects the attitude coming into CONA a lot — it shows that people have different beliefs but its an important thing to be completely accepting and open-minded to other beliefs.”
CONA is a unique opportunity for very different youths from many parts of the United States to interact and understand different opinions. The impact of this case has been clear in the CONA attitude this year already. Jaramillo said, “Iʼve talked to a lot of people here that have good feelings about the decision and many people share my opinion on it. Iʼm very glad to see that our younger generation is so in support of this decision.”
Furthermore, people with dissenting opinions have communicated in respectful ways. Pranav Parikh from the Model United Nations delegation has seen these conversations and believes CONA has fostered meaningful decisions. “The biggest thing here is making sure that weʼre not judging someone or blasting someone based on their opinion, because weʼre all entitled to our own views even if we don’t agree — that’s what makes this place great,” said Parikh.
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