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Loading ...Gay marriage stalls in Catholic RI
05.11.2009 1:53pm EDT
(Providence, Rhode Island) Gay marriage could soon become the law of the land across New England – except in the heavily Roman Catholic state of Rhode Island.
A string of sudden successes for gay marriage advocates has left Rhode Island a political outlier. Maine became the fourth state in New England to legalize same-sex unions last Wednesday, while New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch is now deciding whether to sign similar legislation.Vermont lawmakers established gay marriage last month, following a path already set by courts in Massachusetts and Connecticut.
Yet the movement has stalled in Rhode Island, perhaps even lost ground, after a stalemate at the Statehouse, a loss in the state’s top court and continued opposition from religious leaders.
“I do not hear voices raised, voices stating absolutely that this just cannot do,” said Cassandra Ormiston, 62, a lesbian who could not get divorced in Rhode Island after she and her partner married in Massachusetts. “It is not enough to be patient.”
Religion remains among the biggest hurdles. A recent survey by Trinity College in Connecticut showed 46 percent of Rhode Islanders identify themselves as Roman Catholic, a larger percentage than any other state.
Given its size, the church carries political clout. On the last Inauguration Day, every statewide elected official began the morning with a special Mass at the Cathedral of Sts. Peter and Paul, celebrated by Bishop Thomas Tobin.
Tobin does not hesitate to tussle with politicians, especially on gay marriage. He calls gay unions a perversion of natural law and a violation of an institution that Catholics believe was created by God.
Two years ago, he harshly criticized Attorney General Patrick Lynch, a Catholic, for advising state agencies to recognize the marriages of gay couples wed outside Rhode Island.
“We don’t see it as a civil rights issue,” Tobin said in a recent interview, “because there’s never a right to do something that’s morally wrong.”
Bills legalizing gay marriage have been introduced in the Statehouse every year since 1997. None has ever been approved by a legislative committee, required before those bills could be aired on the full floor.
House Speaker William Murphy and Senate President M. Teresa Paiva-Weed, both Democrats and Catholics, oppose gay marriage.
The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Rhoda Perry, a Democrat from Providence, does not expect to get a vote this year. She believes legislative leaders are trying to shield fellow lawmakers from a fractious debate.
“You know your numbers,” Perry said. “So why make anyone even have to vote on something that at least some of their constituents will be upset about if you already know the votes aren’t there.”
Even if a simple majority of lawmakers backed Perry’s bill, Republican Gov. Don Carcieri – another Catholic – would almost certainly veto it. Overriding a veto requires the support of 60 percent of lawmakers in each chamber.
Courts legalized gay marriage in Massachusetts and Connecticut, but that avenue seems unlikely in Rhode Island.
In 2007, Rhode Island’s Supreme Court refused to let Ormiston divorce her wife, Margaret Chambers. The couple lived in Rhode Island but married across the border in Massachusetts.
In its ruling, the court said it could not grant a divorce because Rhode Island lawmakers have never recognized marriage as anything but a union between a man and a woman.
Frustrated with the slow pace in Rhode Island, Ormiston is parting ways with Marriage Equality Rhode Island, which has locally advocated for gay marriage, and starting a new organization, called Equality Rising, to push harder.
“It is not enough to wait until we no longer have opposition,” she said.
It might become slightly easier for those looking to legalize gay marriage in Rhode Island when Carcieri finishes his second and final term as governor in January 2011. Potential candidates including former Sen. Lincoln Chafee, an independent, and Lt. Gov. Elizabeth Roberts and Attorney General Patrick Lynch, both Democrats, support gay marriage.
General Treasurer Frank Caprio, also a Democrat, said he would not veto a gay marriage bill if he were elected governor.
I live in Rhode Island and it sucks ! I swear it makes up the rules and regs.& laws from minute to minute , as it taxes the crap out of us !! Gay marriage I don’t see it but they’ll sure as hell tax it . Money, money, money, is all this state is about !! For us who might eventually find “the one” and want even a civil union God help us, we’re going to need it in this no you can’t do that state …..
Do we need any more reasons to bemoan a theocracy? Our pastor in chief of the last 8 years did enough damage..stacked our court with Catholics and funded evil religion to new heights.
Rhode Island does indeed have a history of religious freedom but it seems the working class catholic masses have since descended on the little colony and given over their brains to the theocracy.
it is high time to enforce separation of church and state. And yes it applies here…we have the state (not) making laws to establish religion..i.e. willfully discrimating at the edict of its religious leadership.
Each and every catholic official opposing our equality needs to be outed for what they represent: giving their public offices over to church bullying willfully.
Frankly, the many times I’ve been to the state I never had any luck finding another lesbian let alone a gay newspaper or bar.
In R.I. you have to pay to play.
OUT THE BIGOTS CAMPAIGN!
“You know the votes” Well tell us who is NOT VOTING FOR Equality so we can out their Bigot Asses, OR let us put Gris-Gris (Gree Gree) curses on them. They think we are “Evil”, let’s show em evil and get their asses out of the offices.
“House Speaker William Murphy and Senate President M. Teresa Paiva-Weed, both Democrats and Catholics, oppose gay marriage.”
“Even if a simple majority of lawmakers backed Perry’s bill, Republican Gov. Don Carcieri – another Catholic – would almost certainly veto it. Overriding a veto requires the support of 60 percent of lawmakers in each chamber.”
So, we have some names, we know how to write, call, bitch, moan and groan. We ALSO know how to hire Private Investigators to follow these holier than thou people to expose them for what they really are! Don’t we?
I curse em wish they all to get what they deserve.
Nice to just vent sometimes.
I hope Tobin has a painfully case of Prostate Cancer and he dies a slow painful death…
I believe in Karma and the hate that they project will be returned to them 10 Fold!
Most of you will think I am horrible for feeling this way, but it makes me feel better.
That fool Bishop Thomas Tobin puts his mortal soul at risk of damnation by lieing: “We don’t see it as a civil rights issue because there’s never a right to do something that’s morally wrong.” Well…except that he knows damned well that although his church condemns fellatio and cunnilingus as morally wrong, even between a man and wife in the privacy of their bedroom, under our American system of laws and governance they have the perfect right to suck cock and eat pussy all the live-long day behind their own closed bedroom door. Liar.
Not a surprise from confused RC Leadership! At least the Roman Ambassador to RI admits that the RC Church takes pride in promoting discrimination against US Citizens, disrespecting marriage and harming families.
Hopefully Americans will someday revolt and send them all back to the country of the Roman Vatican State, and leave the US politics to Americans!
Their religious argument against marriage equality is ridiculous to me, considering that it wouldn’t effect them at all. Churches would not be forced to marry same-sex couples, so what are they complaining about? *sigh* No wonder I’m no longer Catholic.
Bishop Tobin should take 2 altar boys and call me in the morning.
Advice to those who don’t believe in marriage equality: If you don’t believe in same-sex marriage, then don’t marry someone of the same sex. HOWEVER, do not force your beliefs on others.
Advice to churches opposed to marriage equality: If your doctrines oppose same-sex marriage, then don’t marry same-sex couples. HOWEVER, do not interfere with the religious freedom and rights of churches who support marriage equality.
“We don’t see it as a civil rights issue,” Tobin said in a recent interview, “because there’s never a right to do something that’s morally wrong.”
Maybe someone should point out to this old coot that discrimintaing against people based on your bigotry is morally wrong. What do christinists continue to ignore the passion of christ?
Tobin: “there’s never a right to do anything that’s morally wrong”?
Apparently the good(?!?) minister fails to understand what a RIGHT is: a rule of noninterference and/or an affirmative recognition, emanating from a civil government. Thus, we have the right to drink alcohol (if we’re over 21, haven’t had the right otherwise removed as a probation condition, etc.), even though some individuals believe this choice to be morally wrong. (Hell, the Mormons think COFFEE is a moral evil, but even that notoriously activist right-wing church isn’t crusading to ban the stuff on an argument like Tobin’s. And the day they start, they’re going to have to contend with at least one infuriated bear.
Anyway, the only reason anti-gay arguments along these lines still have any political steam (when anti-beer or anti-coffee arguments wouldn’t) is that a barrage of bigoted rhetoric has made it somehow socially acceptable to flat-out hate LGBT people. Under this smokescreen, latent theocrats can easily sneak in their otherwise-blatant attempts to force canon law as public law.
It’s EXACTLY the same thing the Taliban does – attempt to back up their personal religious beliefs with the force of law. And at some point, we may have to respond to these people the same way we’re responding to the Taliban. Jefferson was right – the price of liberty is eternal vigilance.
This is really disturbing especially when you know the history of Rhode Island’s Founding Father, Roger Williams.
Roger Williams, a minister, founded the colony of Rhode Island in the 17th century, based on the principles of complete religious toleration, separation of church and state and political democracy.
The colony of Rhode Island became a refuge for people persecuted for their religious beliefs.
Roger Williams is quoted as saying.
“forced worship stinks in God’s nostrils”
Unfortunately, Tobin forces religious belief rather than supporting the foundations for which Rhode Island was actually founded on.
There is that other reason that marriage equality doesn’t move forward in RI, and that’s the fact that Rhode Island can’t seem to clean up its massive problems with government corruption. Hmmm…the Church in bed with a corrupt government, and the two working together for mutual benefit, all the while screwing over residents of the state arguably worst-hit in the country by this recession. Just because it sounds a little paranoid doesn’t mean it’s not true, and yes, it also sounds more than a little like Louisiana (except Rhode Island has more Portuguese influence in its food).