Gay Marriage Hearings Heat up in Rhode Island

by Joe Siegel
EDGE Contributor
Sunday May 11, 2008


The House Judiciary Committee held hearings on four bills pertaining to GLBT rights on Wednesday, May 7 at the Rhode Island Statehouse, including a bill which would allow same-sex couples to get married in the state.

One of the bills heard was the Compassion for All Families Act, which would give domestic partners the spousal benefits of family medical leave, nursing home visitation and funeral planning. Another bill, sponsored by House Majority Leader Gordon Fox, would allow same-sex couples married outside of Rhode Island to divorce in Rhode Island courts.

A Providence couple, Cassandra Ormiston and Margaret Chambers, were denied the right to divorce by the state Supreme Court last October. Ormiston and Chambers were married in Massachusetts in 2004, not long after the first same-sex marriages were performed there. The Supreme Court ruled that Ormiston and Chambers couldn’t have access to the Family Court to end their marriage, since the state did not recognize same-gender marriages.

Ormiston gave impassioned testimony to the committee about her frustration with the court’s decision and the state’s refusal to recognize same-sex unions. "Why is it that you feel you can discriminate against me? A woman with a valid contract. I did not ask any faith to bless my marriage. I absolutely respect anyone’s right to believe and worship in any way they choose. But I demand the same right," Ormiston emotes.

Karen Loewy, a staff attorney for GLAD (Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders) says allowing same-gender couples to divorce was "a simple matter of fairness and access to justice."

Susan Heroux, of Coventry, appeared with her wife Stacey and their daughter, to testify in support of same-sex marriage. The couple married in Provincetown last summer. "When we were filling out our taxes and we were forced to put single on them, my wife cried," says Heroux. "It was so upsetting to have to deny our marriage. We felt discriminated against."

"I absolutely respect anyone’s right to believe and worship in any way they choose. But I demand the same right."
Opponents of same-sex marriage who testified at the hearing included Maggie Gallagher, of the National Organization for Marriage, Deacon Stephen Cote of the Providence Diocese, Nancy Boyce, from the New Life Worship Center and Daniel Harrop, a psychologist at Brown University. They claimed same-sex marriage violated Christian doctrine and argued that allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry would harm children and families.

There was also testimony regarding a bill which would amend the state constitution in order to define marriage as between a man and a woman and would nullify any recognition of marriages, civil unions or domestic partnerships between same-sex partners.

Rep. Jon Brien (D-Woonsocket), who sponsored the bill, insisted it was not a DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act). "There’s no hidden agenda," Brien says. "Let’s see what the people decide."

Jenn Steinfeld, the director of Marriage Equality Rhode Island (MERI), told Brien the rights of a minority should not be put to a vote by the majority of the state’s citizens. Steinfeld notes there were "hundreds" of married same-sex couples already living in the state and expressed optimism that marriage equality would prevail eventually.

"We know we are going to win," Steinfeld adds.

The state’s top leaders, including Governor Don Carcieri, a Republican, House Speaker William Murphy (D-West Warwick), and Senate President Joe Montalbano (D-North Providence) all oppose same-sex marriage.

Joe Siegel has written for a number of other GLBT publications, including In newsweekly and Options.