Marriage Equality in Rhode Island

I've been reading a new blog, 'MERI" (Marriage Equality Rhode Island). It's well-written and informative. This is yet another year that the Lege is being encouraged to pass a resolution awarding equality of marriage to gay/lesbians. To illustrate their point they have come with a lege package of bills giving them basic domestic rights which they now lack. There is concern that if that can't get the whole enchilada, trying for bites ain't bad either. They are also hopeful that it will illustrate what they are fighting for - not just one item.

It's funny but two years ago the question I was most often asked concerned abotion. Not so this last time. The question I was frequently asked (and not previously) was whether or not I supported gay marriige. I was rather surprised and I do.

I am a progressive Democrat. I favor the expansion of civil rights, rather than any exclusionary policies. Marriage is used to describe both a religious and civil state. In order to get married, you need a license awarded by the state. I do not want the state making decision of who may or may not marry based on gender, color, or other such qualifications other than both being consenting adults. It didn't work that well in Nazi Germany and it's a slippery slope that government has no business being involved in. Churches and religion can do what they want regarding their beliefs and practices. But not the state.

In fact at the Youth Summit this summer, this was the topic which they were most unified on - gay marraige. They consider it a duh! question which older generations have not yet come up to speed on.

So here is the lege package:

1. Testimonial Privilege – would provide domestic partners with the same privileges as spouses to not testify against one another in court.
2. Family Medical Leave – would allow domestic partners the same rights as married couples to take unpaid leave to care for one another – or a partner’s parents or child – in cases of serious illness.
3. Funeral Planning – would consider domestic partners as next of kin for the purposes of making funeral arrangements and decisions about a deceased partner’s remains.
4. Nursing Home Visitation – would allow domestic partners the same rights to private visitation as married couples, and would allow domestic partners who live in the same nursing home to share a room.
5. Pension Transfer – would allow state employees to name a domestic partner as a beneficiary of a state pension after their death.
6. Wrongful Death – would allow domestic partners to have standing to sue for loss of consortium in cases of wrongful death.

I see that Rep. Crowley & Jackson have a bill for civil unions. Will any of these pass? Hard to saw right now. Unless someone in leadership backs one of these, I doubt that you'll see anything. You need to see some prominent Democrats jumping on the bandwagon. For them to do this they need pressure by other Dem. lege members (and they need voters pressuring them). Right now I ain't hearing it (hearings on the civil union bill start thing week). I tend to think that Crowley & Jackson's bill has a better chance of passage but it may not be this year.

Does gay marriage bother me? Not in the slightest. I'm surprised anyone even bothers getting married anymore with divorce rates at 50%. "What the world needs now, is love sweet love." Stay tuned for more.