EDITORIAL

“Gay Divorce” a Trojan Horse for Homosexual Marriage in RI

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Rhode Island does not recognize marriage by any other definition other than a union between one man and one woman. For nearly 400 years, the state has never authorized, licensed or recognized a “marriage” between persons of the same sex.

Current laws reflect that history. In Rhode Island, a license is required, and the licensure statute refers to the “female party” and the “male party” (R.I.G.L. 1956, §15-2-1). There seems to be very little doubt that the law requires for marriage, a man and a woman. The state legal code contains hundreds of references to “husband” and “wife,” “bride” and “groom,” “male” and “female,” “man” and “woman,” “mother” and “father,” “widow” and “widower” and “spouse.” These laws also define “wife” and “husband.” A son, for example, can have a wife, but not a husband. There can be a “son’s daughter’s husband” but not a “son’s daughter’s wife.”

Strangely, the state House of Representatives may pass H-7990, a proposal sponsored by Representative Timothy Williamson (D-West Warwick) that will “allow for divorce in Rhode Island whether or not the parties would have been eligible to marry in Rhode Island.” In other words, the proposed bill would allow state courts to recognize and dissolve homosexual marriages that are legal in five states and the District of Columbia, but not here in Rhode Island.

Across the nation those who support homosexual marriage have used legal leverage at the state level in courts to impose the redefinition of marriage. This bill sets the grounds for such a judicial decision and rather than a matter of equity as some of the bill’s supporters maintain, it is in reality a Trojan horse. The proposed legislation would undermine our state’s own statutes and the legitimate sovereignty of the State of Rhode Island. It also ignores the reality of the sexual integration and sexual complementarity that are innate and elemental in marriage. The legal recognition of social experiments from other states is just another step on the road to legal recognition of homosexual marriage in Rhode Island. We urge all Rhode Islanders to contact their State Representative with the message of rejecting this attempt to legally recognize homosexual unions as marriage and to stop this veiled threat to marriage in Rhode Island.