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Loading ...RI lawmakers back funeral rights for gays
01.06.2010 8:41am EST
(Providence, RI) Rhode Island lawmakers voted Tuesday to allow same-sex and unmarried couples the right to plan the funerals of their late partners, overriding a veto by the governor, who warned it eroded traditional marriage.
The bill passed 67-3 in the House and 31-3 in the Senate, and enjoyed support from several Republican lawmakers in the same party as Gov. Don Carcieri, an adamant opponent of same-sex marriage in a state that does not recognize gay unions.The new funeral planning rights also apply to unmarried heterosexual couples.
Mark Goldberg, 49, pushed for the legislation after struggling for five weeks to claim the body of his partner of 17 years, Ron Hanby, who committed suicide in October 2008. The state medical examiner would not release Hanby’s body to Goldberg because they were not married or relatives, even though the couple had wills and other legal documents attesting to their relationship.
“Not being able to claim his body was certainly something that was beyond belief, was beyond human compassion from anyone,” Goldberg said. “There was just no compassion whatsoever from anyone in the state.”
Rhode Island and Maine are the only New England states that do not recognize gay marriage. The movement has stalled in Rhode Island partly because of opposition from Roman Catholic church leaders in the most heavily Catholic state in the country. Bills legalizing gay unions have died in Rhode Island’s Democratic-dominated Legislature every year since they were first introduced in 1997.
House Speaker William Murphy, D-West Warwick, and Senate President M. Teresa Paiva-Weed, D-Newport, oppose gay marriage, while Carcieri would almost certainly veto it if it passed.
House Majority Leader Gordon Fox, a Democrat who is gay, said the bill was about helping the bereaved, not changing the definition of marriage.
“You’re dealing with tragedy, one of the worst events in human life as we know it,” Fox said, asking his fellow lawmakers to empathize with Goldberg’s ordeal. “You’re dealing with that tragedy – to be turned away, that you don’t count, to be victimized again, who amongst us would want to feel that way?”
To qualify for funeral planning rights, a couple must be at least 18, have lived together for one year and prove they were financially dependent, for example, by owning property together or sharing a bank account.
Carcieri argued that state law already allows residents to designate people to plan their funerals. He said the requirements in the bill meant to prove a relationship were too vague.
“Finally, this bill represents a disturbing trend over the past few years of the incremental erosion of the principles surrounding traditional marriage, which is not the preferred way to approach this issue,” Carcieri wrote in a letter to lawmakers.
If lawmakers want to grant domestic partnership rights, they should put the issue on a ballot and let the voters decide, Carcieri said.
A handful of lawmakers opposed the move, including Rep. Lisa Baldelli-Hunt, D-Woonsocket, who supports civil unions for gay couples but opposes gay marriage. She objected to allowing people as young as 18 to qualify as domestic partners for the purpose of claiming a loved one’s body.
Baldelli-Hunt said she could theoretically be stopped from planning a funeral for one of her children if they died while in a relationship that qualified under the new law.
“Do I have to lose my rights as a parent because my son is in an intimate relationship with an 18-year-old girl for one year?” she said.
Time for progressive to launch a war on the catholic cult, persistently meddling in the political process and getting a free ride on paying no taxes at our expense. That has to change. If they want a say in things, nail them with taxes like the rest of us and that’s just for starters.
““Do I have to lose my rights as a parent because my son is in an intimate relationship with an 18-year-old girl for one year?” she said.”
Yes, you do, you flaming moron.
The decision rests with the 18 year-old – not with YOU.
And if I had you for a mother, I would be seeking escape with the first legal adult I could find.
Roberto, you are absolutely correct…in fact it is long past time to launch this war!
Join in the fight…you won’t change a thing posting on hear except to get people interested, so call your representative and demand a bill, as I have, to end the unconstitutional tax subsidy I am forced to give to cults that I know are murdering, evil power mongers.
Our politicians are total whimps on this issue because they are afraid of the church’s power. We must let them hear that a vocal segment of the population sees through their lies and abuse of power and we will back anyone working to end this strong hold on our political agenda.
However, I want to correct you, this is not something only progressives should care about. True conservatives would be extremely angry about a foreign sovereign (how do you spell that?) nation recruiting our citizens to commit treason against this country. That is what the employees of the catholic cult are: treasonous supporters of a foreign nation at the cost of their own countrymen’s freedom.
The catholic cult is different than the others that also do considerable harm. Their strength is with the poor and working classes and they have strongest numbers in some of our most Democratic states, making this relationship between the harm they do and those that should oppose it strange. In a progressive state like Mass we allow the roman cult to dictate what our senators do, how they vote and we allow them to push non progressive values on our progressive leadership without voter backlash as everyone here seems afraid of the cult.
Therefore, we need conservatives in this fight too and it is completely in line with their ideology.
Of course with evangelical cults the conservatives and cultists are aligned and their anti-social agendas are the same. We have a unique opportunity with the Roman cult since it flexes its non progressive muscle in progressive states. that house of cards should be the first to fall.
In the face of hatred and bigotry, equality and fairness eventually win out, sometimes a little too slowly for those that have been hurt by injustice.
I certainly hope that RI voters vote out the bastard that they have for a governor.
At 18, you are allowed by law to leave home for good. Your parents no longer have a legal claim over you at that point. You are legally an adult, a young adult perhaps, but an adult none the less. Even though it might screw up your educational opportunities and put you in the poorhouse for a very long time, you are of legal age to make your own decisions to go to war, to college, to get married and have umpteen kids, or what ever else you want to do and your parents have no legal right to stop you at that point from your own decisions and mistakes. At 18, you are totally in charge of your destiny and that’s it. Don’t like your parents’ rule and wishes at 18? Then leave because the law says you can. Because as long you are in your parents’ house and they are paying the mortgage, they are paying your way and paying your bills and theirs, they have a right to determine what happens in their house. Don’t like their rules, then on your 18th birthday, just pack your bags and leave. Because that day is the end of their legal responsibility to keep and to care for you.
What an evil little governor Rhode Island has…trying to veto a law that allowed gay people to collect their partner’s remains after death because they are not officially married or related. Thank goodness for the fair minded legislators that overruled this ridiculous attempt to keep LGBT people from their loved ones. Un-freakin-believable!
secrity,
He must leave anyway in 12 months because RI term limits re: RI governors gives him no choice. Not even a question of voting him out because he must by RI law leave his job in January of 2011.
And some of likely the current people who were possible contenders waiting for a chance to campaign for RI gov are pro-gay. Openly gay mayor of Providence (capital city of RI)David Cicilline may or may not run for job of RI gov to replace the current governor who again has no choice but to step down next January because of RI’s term limits on his job.
Regarding the D-Representative from Woonsocket. Yes, theoretically she could be stopped from making the funeral arrangements. If I were in her shoes I’d be making every effort to be an important and included part of my child’s life so if this situation were to come to pass, the girlfriend (or whatever significant partner) could be in a situation to plan arrangements together even if you did have to compromise on some issues. This representative also needs to come to the realization that gay marriage is not a moral issue but a civil rights issue along with many other people.
’same-sex and unmarried couples’
so this isn’t just a gay thing, the hets have a reason for this too.
The word “legalize” is a misnomer. Our relationships are not illegal. When our opponents say that gay relationships are going to destroy the country when they are “legalized” makes it sound like we are criminal if we already are, and makes it sound like we don’t exist. We do exist, and if everything they say were true, those lies would have already materialized.
One more state I won’t be giving my tax dollars to.
Sorry, my bad.
I meant my money period. lol
To think that Portugal is expected to pass marriage equality this week and Rhode Island gets this? What does that say about New York, Maine, California and about this country in general? Its so disgusting, absolutely shameful.
This is a step forward but only a small step. As for the Roman Catholic church, the drag queens in the church hierarchy (Cardinals, bishops etc.) have the right to set rules for their own members. They do not have the right to dictate rules for everyone else.