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发帖数: 4174 | 1 May 10th, 2012 at 12:46 pm by Ted Nesi under Nesi's Notes, On the Main Site
It’s been clear for a long time that a majority of Rhode Island House
Democrats (and likely a Republican or two) support legalizing same-sex
marriage, and Governor Chafee has always said he’d sign such a bill into
law.
That’s kept all eyes on the Rhode Island Senate – particularly Senate
President M. Teresa Paiva Weed, D-Newport, a devout Catholic who opposes gay
marriage, and the conservative Senate Judiciary Committee chaired by Sen.
Michael McCaffrey, D-Warwick, a Catholic who belongs to his city’s Knights
of Columbus.
There are signs the Senate’s opposition may be softening. In February,
Paiva Weed and McCaffrey met with lobbyists from Marriage Equality Rhode
Island at the lawmakers’ request; last year they never got a meeting at all
. And at least two Senate Republicans, Dawson Hodgson of North Kingstown and
Christopher Ottiano of Portsmouth, say they’d make a vote to approve gay
marriage bipartisan.
Ray Sullivan, the former lawmaker who heads MERI, said there’s “no doubt”
gay marriage would pass the House, which is led by openly gay Speaker
Gordon Fox. “We have more support now in the General Assembly than we’ve
ever had before,” Sullivan told WPRI.com. “That’s not spin. That’s the
reality. People are recognizing that it’s time to take action on this issue
.”
“I will give credit where credit is due in the Senate,” he said. “Last
year it was difficult to engage the leadership in a conversation about this.
But Senate President Paiva Weed and her leadership team opened the door to
us this year and actually asked us for a meeting, which shows progress.”
Last year the chamber supported the law allowing gay civil unions, which has
met with a tepid reception.
Marriage Equality’s political argument this year is twofold: state
lawmakers, particularly Democrats, will either address the issue at the
State House by voting on it before they adjourn next month, or activists
will force them to address it on the campaign trail this fall during their
primary and general campaigns.
Roll-call votes on gay marriage can get surprising results, as New York
demonstrated when its Republican-controlled Senate approved it last June
after months of lobbying. ”I think the Senate president has been thoughtful
in her dealings with us this year, and I think she will be attentive to the
feedback she gets from her members,” Sullivan said, choosing his words
carefully.
A survey last year by Public Policy Polling, a Democratic-affiliated firm in
North Carolina, showed 50% of Rhode Island voters support legalizing gay
marriage, with support heaviest among Democrats and young people and
opposition strongest among Republicans and senior citizens.
Sullivan, a former state lawmaker himself, thinks the declarations of
support for gay marriage on Wednesday by President Obama and particularly U.
S. Sen. Jack Reed, the patriarch of the Democratic Party in Rhode Island,
could give local lawmakers some political cover for doing the same.
That said, neither chamber is close to a floor vote yet. The House Judiciary
Committee held a hearing on the gay marriage bill earlier this spring but
hasn’t voted to send it to the full House, while McCaffrey’s Senate
Judiciary Committee has yet to schedule a hearing. McCaffrey was not
immediately available for comment. |
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