Rhode Island Lawmakers Approve Civil Unions

[w8liftinglady]

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/30/us/30unions.html

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Less than a week after same-sex marriage was legalized in New York, the Rhode Island State Senate on Wednesday evening approved a bill allowing not marriage, but civil unions for gay couples, despite fierce opposition from gay-rights advocates who called the legislation discriminatory.
bill, which already passed in the state’s House of Representatives and which the governor said he was likely to sign, would grant gay and lesbian couples most of the rights and benefits that Rhode Island provides married couples. It was offered as a compromise this spring after Gordon D. Fox, the openly gay speaker of the Democratic-controlled House, said he could not muster enough votes to pass a same-sex marriage bill.

Gay marriage advocates initially had high hopes for success in Rhode Island this year. The new governor, Lincoln D. Chafee, an independent, had championed their cause, and Mr. Fox, who became speaker last year, also appeared eager to get a marriage bill passed. The state’s two closest neighbors, Connecticut and Massachusetts, allow gay couples to marry, as do New Hampshire and Vermont.

But M. Teresa Paiva Weed, a Democrat and the State Senate president, opposes gay marriage, and Mr. Fox ultimately threw his support to civil unions instead, saying that was a more realistic goal.

Gay rights advocates say the bill is unacceptable because it allows religious organizations to not recognize the unions. For example, they say, a Catholic hospital could choose not to allow a lesbian to make medical decisions on behalf of her partner, and a Catholic university could deny family medical leave to gay employees.

[Unvanguard]

1. Such an awful compromise, in a region where there's been so much success.

Unacceptable.

[hack89]

2. Rhode Island is blue collar, pro-union democrats

that are very Catholic and socially conservative. It is the most Catholic state in the union.

[Jazz Ambassador]

3. Yep

This may be disappointing after NY, but given the demographics of the stat its pretty impressive.

[Creideiki]

7. I can stop being actively pro-union, I guess, if it will help them change their minds

I mean, it's awful what's happening in Ohio and Wisconsin, but I'm in Colorado, so it doesn't affect me personally, right?

And if the pro-union socially conservative Catholics (who the Evangelicals would rather leave dead on the road than admit that they're Christians) are okay with the two camps being split, then there's not much I can do about it. Except to tell them that once they effectively reach out to me, I'll consider actively supporting them again.

Or something.

[MNBrewer]

4. Will be signed, should be vetoed.

[Stinky The Clown]

5. This is really disappointing. Rhode Island was once considered the most liberal state in the US

[hack89]

6. We have never been socially liberal

the initial core of the progressive movement was poor Catholic immigrants - the Church was at the forefront of the movement for workers rights and a robust social safety net. But they were never socially progressive due to the prominent role of the church - Rhode Island has always been a backwater of GLBT rights, especially compared to its immediate neighbors.