[media-credit name=’RAY PFEIFFER/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]State Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Middleton, spoke to the College Democrats of Madison Wednesday about a new constitutional amendment he is pursuing to circumvent certain aspects of the marriage amendment that was passed in last month's election.

The strategy, Erpenbach said, is to try to add anti-discrimination legislation — legislation that is already state law — to the Wisconsin Constitution in the form of an amendment. Such an amendment, he reasons, would make discrimination unconstitutional and therefore render the marriage amendment unconstitutional for discriminating based on sexual orientation.

"Whether you're gay or straight, we want you to pay all the taxes you're expected to pay," Erpenbach said. "[B]ut constitutionally, now, [a gay person] is a second-class citizen."

He expressed frustration with the amendment, calling it "the stupidest thing" Wisconsin has done since he's took office in 1998.

The marriage amendment, which passed by an overwhelming margin Nov. 7, defines marriage as specifically between "one man and one woman," and additionally bans any "legal status identical to or substantially similar to that of marriage," including civil unions.

Erpenbach stressed his focus was on the second part of the amendment, which effectively bans civil unions.

According to Erpenbach, the reason he is pursuing a constitutional amendment is because any legislation regarding working around the amendment would be unconstitutional. The word "discrimination," he noted, currently doesn't exist in the state Constitution.

"I want to take the current state law, which defines discrimination and sexual orientation and put it in our Constitution," Erpenbach said.

Erpenbach acknowledged that while his solution might seem like a "tricky way" around the amendment, his goal is simply to ban discrimination in Wisconsin.

When contacted by The Badger Herald Wednesday evening, College Republicans Chair Erica Christenson said her group has no stance on the ban, but declined further comment on the matter.

Answering students' questions about the same-sex marriage ban, Erpenbach stressed the ban isn't "a piece of legislation that goes against our Constitution," as its very inclusion in the document technically makes the ban constitutional.

"The problem with this is this is actually in our Constitution, and all our laws have to conform with what is in our Constitution," Erpenbach said.

Erpenbach also addressed UW's lamentable position as the only Big Ten school without domestic-partner benefits. In the future, he warned, companies in Wisconsin that currently offer domestic-partner benefits may be forced to cease providing benefits due to the amendment.

Eli Lewien, chair of College Democrats, opened the meeting by citing some statistics about the ban, noting that 85 percent of UW students voted "No."

Erpenbach thanked the College Democrats for their work during the election and spoke about the importance of the student vote.

According to Erpenbach, 18- to 21-year-olds are the least likely to vote of all age groups. If students don't vote, he said, they might lose their rights.

Lewien noted that the student vote at UW was up 66 percent this year.

"We want to get up to the state Capitol … [and] let people know what we think about policy," Lewien said.