Three of the major gubernatorial will announce their support for gay marriage at a rally today, March 3rd, at the Statehouse. Independent Lincoln Chafee, Attorney General Patrick Lynch, and General Treasurer Frank Caprio will all make the pledge. Moderate Party candidate Ken Block is sending a representative to show his support for gay marriage because he will be unable to attend. Republican Candidate John Robitaille does not support gay marriage and claims he was never contacted to attend the event. Robitaille does say, however, that he supports civil unions.
There may be new life to the gay rights movement in RI. Only a few months ago, gay rights advocates had three large obstacles to ensuring gay marriage becomes legal in Rhode Island. All belonging to the Catholic Church, Governor Carcieri, Senate President Paiva-Weed, and Former Speaker of the House Murphy all vehemently oppose gay marriage. With Governor Carcieri leaving office next January and Rep. Gordon Fox taking over for William Murphy as Speaker of the House, the cause has a strong advocate in the House and another possible advocate as Governor.
Currently, Rhode Island is the only New England State besides Maine to not recognize gay marriage. Over the past ten years, legislation has been written to reform that policy, but has never reached the congressional floor. Even if the Congress were to vote in favor of gay marriage, Gov. Carcieri has made it very clear his intentions to veto any bill that comes his way.
We will continue to follow this story as it unfolds…
For more information about this story click the links below: