Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline on Saturday announced plans to seek the U.S. House seat being vacated by Patrick J. Kennedy.
Cicilline
Cicilline, 49, Rhode Island’s first openly gay mayor, became the second Democrat to declare his candidacy for the congressional seat, just two days after Kennedy’s unexpected announcement that he would not seek re-election. (more…)
State Representative Gordon Fox this week became the first openly gay lawmaker elected Speaker of the Rhode Island House of Representatives.
Gordon Fox (Photo credit: Providence Journal)
Fox, 48, announced he was gay in 2004 during a Statehouse rally in support of gay marriage.
He said in an interview with The Providence Journal that he is “in a long-term relationship, but not officially married. … When I get married, I would like to do it in my home state.” (more…)
Three candidates running for Rhode Island governor have promised to sign a gay marriage bill should it reach their desk if they are elected.
Attorney General Patrick Lynch and General Treasurer Frank Caprio, both Democrats, and former Sen. Lincoln Chafee, an independent, have been invited by Marriage Equality Rhode Island to make their pledge public at a rally at the Statehouse on March 3.
Although the three candidates previously have said they support gay marriage, the pledges come as gay rights activists hope to capitalize on the departure of Republican Gov. Don Carcieri, a staunch social conservative who opposes gay unions.
One of the major obstacles to pro-gay marriage legislation in Rhode Island has been the anticipated veto from the governor’s office. (more…)
On their first day back at work, Rhode Island lawmakers Tuesday wasted no time in overriding 15 vetos by Republican Governor Don Carcieri, including the bill to grant funeral decision-making rights to same-sex couples.
The House, and then the Senate, voted to override Carcieri’s veto of a bill grating domestic partners the right to claim the bodies of, and make funeral arrangements for, their loved ones.
The House vote was 67 to 3 and the Senate vote was 29 to 3.
In his veto message on November 10, Carcieri said: “This bill represents a disturbing trend over the past few years of the incremental erosion of the principles surrounding traditional marriage, which is not the preferred way to approach this issue.”
At the time, Sen. Rhoda Perry and Rep. David Segal, the bill sponsors, promised they would seek to override the veto.
The funeral arrangements bill covers domestic partners regardless of their sexual orientation, but was passed after moving testimony of Mark Goldberg, who said it took well over a month for him to arrange the cremation of his longtime partner Ron Hanby because various state agencies refused to recognize their relationship and release Hanby’s body to him.
“Not being able to claim his body was certainly something that was beyond belief, was beyond human compassion from anyone,” Goldberg said. “There was just no compassion whatsoever from anyone in the state.”
Following the veto override Tuesday, Goldberg said he was “just thankful the [lawmakers] recognized the importance of this bill.”
PROVIDENCE — Two days after vetoing a bill giving domestic partners the right to make funeral decisions for each other, a conciliatory Governor Don Carcieri told a gay-rights activist group he is open to supporting a domestic-partnership law that bestows many if not all of the rights of marriage, without the right to marry, the Providence Journal reports.
“Maybe it’s something we should consider,” said Carcieri, after meeting privately Thursday for more than an hour in his office with a half-dozen members of Queer Action of Rhode Island, a group that in the immediate aftermath of his veto had labeled him “a bigot.”
Among those attending was Mark Goldberg, the Providence East Sider whose five-week battle to claim the body of his partner of 17 years from the state morgue, had sparked the vetoed legislation. (more…)
