Tomorrow's the day gay couples in Massachusetts can legally obtain marriage licenses. Some couples from the original Goodridge case that opened the door to issuing the licenses plan on getting married tomorrow, but most will have to wait at least three days. Same-sex marriage opponents will have to wait a lot longer before a vote on an amendment that could stop the marriages.
Both sides of the issue will be watching Massachusetts closely, both believing that the first-in-the-nation experiment in SSM will rally a mostly unfazed electorate to action. Advocates believe that seeing friends and neighbors and fellow Americans experiencing the familiar bliss of their wedding days will dull the fire and brimstone rhetoric of the religious right. Opponents think that a gay couple trying to get marriage rights outside of Massachusetts will finally wake up the moral majority (who, according to today's NY Times,
are indeed asleep)
Just to the south, RI Attorney General Patrick Lynch will issue the opinion of the State as to whether Mass. Marriages will be recognized in Rhode Island. We have bills in the legislature now for both outlawing and legalizing same sex marriage here, though there hasn't been much movement on either so far. Meanwhile, watch the ProJo letter section this week, as today's paper featured a front page
image of two men sharing a tender moment (you might remember the minor furor over the pic of two guys kissing a while back). The article is pretty good if you want to
check it out.
Check back tomorrow for what AG Lynch says. Either way it should be an important decision for same-sex marriage in RI.
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The Rhode Island Camapign for Marriage Equality : http://www.campaignformarriageequality.com/, is asking Rhode Islanders to call or email Attorney General Lynch to let him know that they support gay marriage in the Ocean State and that he should instruct Massachusetts Gov. Romney to mind his own business and allow gay and lesbian Rhode Islanders to obtain marriage lisences in Massachusetts. New York’s Attorney General has already said that his state will recognize Massachusetts Same-Sex Marriages.
You can email Attorney General Lynch at: plynch@riag.state.ri.us or call his office tomorrow morning at: 274-4400, ext. 2339.
Also tomorrow (Mon. the 17th) at Roger Williams National Memorial in downtown Providence there will be a “Toast to Marriage Equality” from 6-8pm. This event will be in celebration of the history being made in Massachusetts and as a rally to engourage Ocean State law makers to follow suit.
My partner and I are watching developments within Rhode Island and Massachusetts carefully. We were both born in Massachusetts and would like to go to Massachusetts to get married. However as things currently stand, Gov. Romney (a damn carpet-bagger from Utah) will block our attempts unless Attorney General Lynch instructs him not to. Barring that, our options are to wait on the Rhode Island General Assembly, move to Massachusetts, or sue. None of those options are terribly appealing at this point.