PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas J. Tobin is urging Rhode Island state lawmakers to reject the latest proposal to legalize same-sex marriage, calling it “immoral and unnecessary.”
In his latest column, appearing Monday in the Rhode Island Catholic, Tobin argues that marriage has existed “in every human culture from the very beginning of human history” and was “designed by God” to “affirm the complementary roles of males and females in a loving relationship” and “provide a stable foundation for the procreation and raising of children.”
“Homosexual relationships can achieve neither of those goals” and “enshrines into civil law immoral activity,” he wrote.
Tobin has called on the Rhode Island General Assembly to “protect marriage as a sacred union of one man and one woman.”
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Last Thursday, two Rhode Island state lawmakers formally introduced bills in the state House and Senate that would legalize marriage equality for same-sex couples, setting the stage for Rhode Island to become the tenth — or eleventh, depending on progress in Illinois – state to where same-sex marriage is legal.
House Speaker Gordon Fox (D-Providence), who is also openly gay, said he wanted a vote on the measure by Jan. 31.
Tobin advised that Rhode Island should wait for the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on the constitutionality of the federal “Defense of Marriage Act” (DOMA), which defines marriage between a man and a woman.
