Rhode Island Considers Gay Marriage

providence_capitolIn New England, if you want to jump the broom, first, you’ve got to jump the states. If you’re from Rhode Island, the smallest, most adorable state in the Union and you want to get married, if you’re gay, right now that means hopping in a car, riding over to Massachusetts and then coming back– great for getting folks to leave their teeny, tiny state, but also, a pointless hoop to make gay people jump through. A new bill, which would enact gay marriage in Rhode Island, is up before the State Senate and would bring gay marriage home for Ocean Staters.

However, even in liberal Rhode Island, the political reality is that where there’s a gay marriage bill, you’ll find an anti-gay-marriage bill. The state’s Republicans are looking to close the loophole that allows gays and lesbians to marry out of state and are running radio ads that ed in a little boy saying, “I want a Mommy and Daddy.” The Rhode Island gay marriage bill means that all the New England states either allow gay marriage, or are considering bills that would legalize them.

The Boston Globe writes
:

“One bill being considered by the Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday would allow same-sex couples to marry in Rhode Island. Another would outright ban gay marriage and prohibit the state from recognizing same-sex couples as married.

Rhode Island law is currently silent on the issue.

A third bill before the committee would allow same-sex couples who wed out of state to get divorced in Rhode Island. That bill was inspired by a 2007 state Supreme Court decision that blocked a lesbian couple who lived in Providence from obtaining a divorce.”

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