PROVIDENCE – Despite an intense lobbying effort by well-funded special interest groups facing stiff opposition and conceding that the legislation could not pass the full house, Speaker Gordon Fox recommended that the House not move forward with a vote on the same-sex marriage bill that if passed, would redefine marriage in Rhode Island.
Fox said he will “instead support full passage of a civil unions” bill in the Ocean State.
The House Speaker indicated he was optimistic that a “civil unions” bill can gain passage in both chambers during this legislative session,” and that he will be one of the bill’s sponsors.
Rep. Peter John Petrarca (D-Lincoln) said last week that he will introduce legislation establishing so-called civil unions in Rhode Island.
Father Bernard A. Healey, governmental liaison for the Diocese of Providence, indicated that the church has consistently taught that marriage is between one man and one woman.
Father Healey said that the pursuit of legislation codifying civil unions often represents a political tactic designed to further the goal of legalizing same-sex marriage, suggesting that “when civil unions are passed, there is soon a rallying cry from same-sex marriage advocates against ‘separate but equal’ recognition of relationships.”
He noted that a similar course of events took place in Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire and Connecticut, when “after the legalization of civil unions, the legal recognition of same-sex marriage quickly followed in those states.” With the introduction of new legislation that would establish civil unions in Rhode Island, Father Healey emphasized that “we intend to remain vigilant in the defense of marriage whether by legal redefinition or through the ‘Trojan horse’ called civil unions.”
Chris Plante, executive director of the National Organization for Marriage-Rhode Island, said, “redefining marriage is not the way to extend rights or ‘level the playing field’.”
Plante said that until NOM has reviewed the proposed legislation on civil unions, the organization would withhold judgment.
He believes that there is support in both chambers of the State House for civil unions. A spokesman for Senate President Teresa Paiva-Weed said that she “has consistently supported civil unions.”
“I have no doubt that gay marriage advocates will continue to push this legislative session and next for redefining marriage,” Plante said. “However, if civil unions are passed I expect that legislative support, especially in an election year, for legalizing homosexual marriage will be thin. I would be more concerned about judicial action as the result of lawsuits brought by gay marriage advocates against civil unions legislation. Putting the definition of marriage in the hands of a few judges has rarely resulted in strengthening the institution.”
