Marching for R.I. marriage equality
By
PROVIDENCE, R.I.--Just two days after Rhode Island Gov. Donald Carcieri delivered a keynote address to the right-wing Massachusetts Family Institute (MFI), 150 LGBT activists from Marriage Equality R.I. and the Providence Equality Action Committee (PEAC), joined by sister organizations from Vermont, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, marched on the Rhode Island statehouse to let their anger be heard.
The MFI regards homosexuality as a "unhealty practice and destructive to individuals, families, and society." A spokesperson told activists that Carcieri would not be speaking on LGBT issues, and would focus on the need to keep both parents in the family.
Instead, Carcieri was quoted as telling the group, "It bothers me when gay marriage is framed as a civil rights issue. Marriage is a license handed out by the state and comes with certain responsibilities, which is why most states don't allow certain kinds of marriage." Carcieri is a long-standing opponent of LGBT rights, but has also said that he welcomes a ballot referendum on the issue.
"It brings me great joy to know that I bother the governor," said veteran activist, Ken Fish, addressing a cheering crowd that had been chanting earlier, "Don Carcieri, we will fight to marry."
Other speakers at the rally were quick to call out the governor's repugnant statement, but also pointed out the Democratic-controlled General Assembly's lack of leadership in pushing the issue forward--one of the culprits being openly gay Majority Leader Gordon Fox, who is poised to become the next Speaker of the House when the current Speaker's term expires in 2011.
Coming out of the National Equality March, however, Rhode Islanders are no longer willing to wait that long for their civil rights.
Rhode Island holds the unsavory distinction of being the only New England state that does not recognize marriages between same-sex couples. Marriage equality bills have been introduced to the General Assembly every year since 1997, but have never been put up for a vote. R.I. activists are promising to continue the fight for their civil rights.
