R.I. House committee schedules Tuesday vote on gay marriage

The first General Assembly vote on gay marriage this year is scheduled for Tuesday....

Providence Journal • Jan 17, 2013

Speaker Fox says same-sex marriage hearing likely next week / Poll

With Governor Chafee unveiling his proposed new state budget on Wednesday, and the House holding an economic summit a day later, Fox said the most likely date for the same-sex marriage hearing is Tuesday. ...

Providence Journal • Jan 11, 2013

Gay marriage bill to be introduced into R.I. General Assembly

Legislation allowing gay couples to marry in Rhode Island will be introduced on Thursday, the bill's longtime sponsor, state Rep. Arthur Handy, said Tuesday, the opening day of the 2013 General Assembly session. Handy, a Cranston Democrat, said the bill is already drafted, but that he needs Wednesday's second legislative day to gather signatures from co-sponsors, who will include openly gay House ...

Providence Journal • Jan 3, 2013

Gay marriage bill to be introduced into R.I. General Assembly

Legislation allowing gay couples to marry in Rhode Island will be introduced on Thursday, the bill's longtime sponsor, state Rep. Arthur Handy, said Tuesday, the opening day of the 2013 General Assembly session. Handy, a Cranston Democrat, said the bill is already drafted, but that he needs Wednesday's second legislative day to gather signatures from co-sponsors, who will include openly gay House ...

Providence Journal • Jan 2, 2013

R.I. Senate president says Judiciary Committee will vote on same-sex marriage if it passes House

She's making no promises on the eventual outcome, but Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed said Monday that should the House pass a bill to legalize same-sex marriage, the Senate Judiciary Committee will vote on that bill, or at least vote on the issue....

Providence Journal • Dec 18, 2012

Gay-rights bills to again be submitted at R.I. Assembly

Following last year's passage of a law recognizing same-sex civil unions, gay rights will again be a focus at the General Assembly this year....

Providence Journal • Feb 17, 2012

Despite R.I. civil-union law, gay spouses excluded from tax exemption

Loewy and other advocates say they are concerned that the administration's position on the so-called "unlimited marital deduction" to the estate tax is a harbinger of problems ahead for Rhode Island's new civil-union law, which took effect July 2. State Rep. Frank Ferri, a Warwick Democrat who married his gay partner in Canada, said Gershkoff's concerns bring into focus another concern for gay co...

Providence Journal • Oct 10, 2011

Anti-gay marriage group loses appeal of R.I. court ruling

A federal appeals court panel Thursday rejected an anti-gay marriage group's bid to block its need for compliance with Rhode Island campaign disclosure laws. The National Organization for Marriage had challenged Chief U.S. District Judge Mary M. Lisi's refusal in October to grant a preliminary injunction that would have allowed the group to avoid disclosing money it spent to support various candi...

Providence Journal • Aug 12, 2011

Gay advocates seek veto of civil-union bill

Calling a bill that would legalize same-sex civil unions "onerous and discriminatory," more than a half-dozen gay advocacy groups called on Governor Chafee Tuesday to veto the legislation if it passes with language that was added to protect religious organizations and their employees. In a two-page letter sent to the governor, the groups said the bill -- scheduled for a Senate Judiciary Committee...

Providence Journal • Jun 29, 2011

R.I. House approves civil unions

The civil-unions bill -- opposed by hundreds who came out to testify last week and thousands, according to one lawmaker's count, who signed petitions -- did indeed pass in the House, with a vote that cut across party lines, even as it left lawmakers at odds over where the issue goes from here and what people in Rhode Island really want. Supporters called the vote a historic victory, one that prov...

Providence Journal • May 20, 2011

Update: Catholic diocese asks Assembly to kill civil unions

After playing a major role in the defeat of same-sex marriage, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence is now trying to scuttle the compromise that House Speaker Gordon D. Fox is backing: civil unions....

Providence Journal • Apr 30, 2011

In R.I. House, leadership was split on prospects for gay-marriage bill

Was there support in the state House of Representatives this session to pass legislation that would have granted gay couples the right to marry in Rhode Island? Even among members of House Speaker Gordon D. Fox's leadership team -- the majority leaders and whips tasked with rounding up support for such legislation -- disagreement remains. After months of saying that he had strong support for suc...

Providence Journal • Apr 29, 2011

RI: Speaker looking for early vote on same-sex marriage

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 --...

Providence Journal • Mar 10, 2011

RI Speaker: Committee may vote gay marriage next week

Fox says he's conscious that time may be running short. Very soon, he said, the assembly session will be dominated by the state budget, grappling with the financial solvency of cities and towns, and public education reform....

Providence Journal • Mar 3, 2011

R.I. same-sex marriage bill packs the halls / Video

"We're more hopeful than ever," said Kim Stowell, spokeswoman for Marriage Equality Rhode Island, as more than 200 people crowded into the rotunda, and a crowd of equal size was restrained outside. "Times are changing. Everyone knows a gay person today. It's harder to say gay people can't get married when you are talking about someone you know." A smaller group of people opposed to gay marriage t...

Providence Journal • Feb 11, 2011

National Organization for Marriage says Massachusetts public schools teach kindergartners about gay marriage

Bottom line: The National Organization for Marriage mailing says that Massachusetts public schools teach kindergartners about gay marriage. The wording, including the present tense verb, gives the impression this is happening now, in many schools. But the group's only evidence is two incidents five years ago. It's possible that somewhere, in one of the 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts, other...

Providence Journal • Feb 10, 2011

Same-sex marriage bill to be introduced Thursday

In a brief interview on Wednesday, Rep. Arthur Handy, D-Cranston, said he had already lined up 27 co-sponsors and was hoping for more, but would introduce the bill no matter what the number on Thursday in hopes of spurring an early-session hearing and vote on the measure....

Providence Journal • Jan 7, 2011