Rhode Island

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Legislation to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry in Rhode Island will soon head to its first political test. The House Judiciary Committee has scheduled a vote on the measure for Tuesday. If the panel passes the measure as expected, it will head to the full House for a vote, possibly […]

Hundreds of supporters of same-sex marriage rights assembled at the Rhode Island Statehouse on Tuesday, urging lawmakers to make the nation’s smallest state the 10th to allow gay and lesbian couples to wed — and the last to do so in New England.

Same-sex marriage takes center stage in the Rhode Island state legislature on Tuesday as the House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to review a proposed marriage equality bill. The committee is expected to hear several hours of testimony this evening from gay marriage supporters and opponents. Supporters of the bill, which includes Gov. Lincoln Chafee (I) […]

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee said Thursday that he would likely veto any attempt to put same-sex marriage to a public vote, and said state lawmakers owe it to voters to decide the issue in the legislature. The Rhode Island House of Representatives is scheduled to vote within weeks on legislation that would allow same-sex couples to marry, however opponents of same-sex marriage have expressed their support for alternative legislation that would put the question before voters.

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.”

Two Rhode Island state lawmakers on Thursday 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.

The Rhode Island General Assembly kicks off its 2013 session Tuesday, and the first big debate of the year is likely to center on same-sex marriage.

Rhode Island state Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed (D-Democrat) said Monday that, despite her opposition to same-sex marriage, she expects the issue will be considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee in the upcoming legislative session if the House advances a bill.

Gay Rep. David Cicilline won re-election to Congress on Tuesday from Rhode Island. Cicilline, a former two-term mayor of Providence, should have had a relatively easy race for a second term in office in a district where Democrats outnumber Republicans by a 3 to 1 margin, according to most political observers in Rhode Island.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A new political ad sponsored by the National Republican Congressional Committee links freshman U.S. Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) to a convicted pedophile and murderer he represented as a defense attorney twenty years ago.