Rhode Island’s marriage equality bill soared through the state’s House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday in a unanimous decision to send it to the House floor.
“After hearing testimony from everyday Rhode Islanders–gay and straight, friends, family and community leaders–the committee resoundingly endorsed extending the unique protections and recognition of marriage to all loving, committed couples,” said Ray Sullivan, Rhode Islanders United for Marriage campaign director. “This historic, affirmative vote moves us one step closer to finally making the Ocean State a place where all families are valued, respected and treated equally.”
“We are grateful to Speaker Fox, his leadership team, Rep. Handy and all our sponsors for their commitment to acting swiftly on this important legislation and we look forward to having this bill debated by the full House. Momentum is clearly with us, but we’re not taking anything for granted and will double our efforts in the coming days to grow the broad and bipartisan coalition of supportive legislators in both chambers,” added Sullivan.
This is the first time that the House will have the opportunity to vote on marriage equality. A similar bill was introduced to the General Assembly in 2001 and received only one vote, causing the legislation to be defeated before it even made it to the House floor. From one vote to unanimous … times are certainly changing.
Photo: golocalprov.com
