RI gov reconsiders gay civil rights

Thanks to a meeting with gay activists, Rhode Island Gov. Carcieri now says he’s open to a domestic partnership bill – just two days after vetoing a bill which would have given domestic partners the right to make funeral arrangements.

Reports The Providence Journal:
“Maybe it’s something we should consider,” said Carcieri, …

In RI, some wary as tide of gay marriage rises

PROVIDENCE – From a cramped office in the middle of the smallest state in the nation, Christopher Plante is determined to prove that Rhode Island has not been cornered by the advance of same-sex marriage across the rest of New England.

“When I look at a real map of the United States, we’re actually not alone here,” said Plante, executive director of the Rhode Island chapter of the National Organization for Marriage, which opposes same-sex unions. “This is not the United States of New England.”

But supporters and even some opponents expect that Rhode Island will legalize same-sex marriage, although they say that legalization is two or three years away.

Massachusetts and Connecticut legalized same-sex marriage as a result of judicial decisions in 2003 and 2008, while Vermont, Maine, and New Hampshire followed this spring by legislative action.

The slower pace in Rhode Island, where the state Senate voted last week to allow same-sex partners to make funeral arrangements, has frustrated some local activists, many of whom rallied outside the State House in Providence last weekend to call for immediate equality.

But others say that legalization by 2012, a goal advocates set last year for securing same-sex marriage in all New England states, would put Rhode Island at the front of the pack nationally. In the rest of the country, only Iowa allows same-sex couples to marry.

“They still have a chance to be part of the vanguard,” said attorney Karen L. Loewy, the Rhode Island point person for GLAD, which won the lawsuits in Massachusetts and Connecticut that legalized same-sex marriage in those states. “Rhode Island is well on its way.”

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Boston Globe

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MD State AG studies recognizing out of state gay nuptials

Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler is exploring whether same-sex marriages performed in other states can be recognized in Maryland, a move that could open an avenue for legal recognition of gay and lesbian couples who have been rebuffed by the courts and legislature here.

The exercise puts Gansler – a Democrat and vocal proponent of same-sex marriage – in a difficult position. Maryland law clearly defines marriage as between a man and a woman, but the state also adheres to a long-standing legal principle that generally acknowledges couples married elsewhere.

Gay-rights activists say the ability to marry would not only strengthen their relationships but confer hundreds of rights, benefits and responsibilities on them, including community property protections, control over funeral arrangements of a spouse and an obligation to pay child support.

For many married same-sex couples living in Maryland, the issue isn’t just a legal conundrum but deeply personal.
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