Rhode Island’s House Judiciary Committee is expected to vote on a marriage-equality bill today. If it passes, which it is expected to do, the measure would go before the full House of Representatives as early as this week.
Supporters of the measure are confident of its success in the House. The bill’s chances in the state Senate are less clear, though. “At its core, the Marriage Equality Act is a matter of fairness,” stated Governor Lincoln Chafee. “It would extend important social recognition and legal protections to all Rhode Island families and children.”
Last week LGBT activists and counter-demonstrators amassed outside the Statehouse in Providence. ‘I support the bill before the General Assembly that would allow same-sex couples to marry in our state, not in spite of my Christian faith, but because of it,’ said Episcopal Bishop Nicholas Knisely.
