The Gender and Sexuality Center hosts a phone bank every Thursday where students and Waltham community members call local voters to urge them to ‘vote yes on 3’: to vote in favor of the third ballot question on the 2018 Massachusetts Nov. 6 ballot.

This question asks voters whether or not they support a 2016 law that guarantees access to public accommodations for transgender people according to their gender identity. Signed into law by Republican governor Charlie Baker, this provides equal access to spaces such as restaurants, libraries and bathrooms.

Several student volunteers organize the Gender and Sexuality Center’s weekly phone bank, including Renee Korgood ’20, who spoke to The Hoot about the campaign to ‘vote yes on 3.’

“I think we can all agree that discrimination in particular is not a Brandeis value,” Korgood said. “I think that it’s really important at Brandeis and in our community to fight for people who may not have the voice or the ability to do this advocacy themselves.”

The phone bank began Thursday, Aug. 30 and will run until Nov. 1. Then, from Nov. 3 to Nov. 6, the Center will host an all-day phone bank with Triskelion, Brandeis’ LGBTQ+ student social group, according to Korgood.

Organizers of the phone bank will also attend a Social Impact Job Fair on Wednesday, Nov. 24 to recruit more phone bank volunteers. Korgood was pleased with the number of volunteers, saying, “Most of our volunteers are coming from the Waltham community.”

Korgood and other organizers have recruited volunteers and canvassed in Waltham. Korgood estimates that she herself has contacted more than 75 students.