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For 15th Straight Year, Rhode Island’s Assembly Introduces Gay Marriage Bill
Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee wasn’t messing around when he called for same-sex marriage equality in his kick-off speech. Lawmakers there are reintroducing a bill in the State House to do just that, led by Rep. Arthur Handy. Counters fellow Democrat Rep. Jon Brien: Fine, but I’m going to introduce a bill sending the issue to voters. Either way, this is certainly a far cry from where we were just a few months ago, with then-Gov. Don Carcieri lending his name to anti-gay events and promising gays would remain second-class under his watch. But Rhode Island’s House has introduced a gay marriage bill every year since 1997; it’s never come up for a vote.
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Yes this is the 15th year, but we now have a House leader who will bring it to a vote, and a governor who will sign it (even though it probably could’ve survived a veto anyways), and while the Senate leader opposes it, I remember hearing she’ll bring it to a vote if passed in the House.