House Speaker Gordon D. Fox, who is an openly gay Providence Democrat, said recently that he is "doing everything in his power" to move forward a House bill that would allow gay couples to marry, regardless of whether the bill has support in the Senate.

Last week, he confirmed that a House Judiciary Committee vote -- representing the first time the bill would be put to a vote in either chamber -- was being considered for Thursday, the day that the Senate has scheduled a hearing on the Senate version of the legislation. "That's a potential," Fox said. "The potential's there, but nothing has been set in stone at this point."