Lincoln Chafee: Gay Marriage is a Question of Fairness

by Michael A. Jones

categories: Gay Marriage, LGBT Rights and Politics, Marriage Equality, Religion and LGBT Rights, State LGBT News

Published June 18, 2009 @ 12:58PM PT

Lots of people are wondering when the last holdout for marriage equality in New England, Rhode Island, will take the steps necessary to legalize same-sex marriage.  Given that the current Governor of Rhode Island, Gov. Don Carcieri, willingly holds press conferences with the National Organization for Marriage, it doesn't look like marriage equality will happen before his tenure is over.  Unfortunately.

But on the brigther side of things, it looks like whoever becomes Rhode Island's next governor will support marriage equality.  That's because all of the leading candidates support marriage equality on the Democratic side, and now independent candidate Lincoln Chafee writes that he favors it, too.

Chafee writes at Huffington Post today that gay and lesbian couples have strengthened the fabric of Rhode Island, and that affording them the same rights and responsibilities given heterosexuals when it comes to marriage is the only fair thing to do.  Take it away, Chafee:

As a proud Rhode Islander who thinks of my state as a leader when it comes to treating others with dignity and respect, it troubles me to think we've fallen behind in granting our gay and lesbian family members and friends something as fundamentally important as the right to have their relationships fully recognized by the state. That is not in keeping with Rhode Island's proud history of inclusion and progressiveness...

I understand that the issue of same-sex marriage can often be difficult to grapple with. For some, their opposition is rooted in their upbringings or the teachings of their religion, with many opponents of same-sex marriage citing fears about their church having to perform those marriages as cause for their opposition. However, those fears are unfounded, as pending legislation in Rhode Island and laws in the six states that currently permit same-sex marriage deal exclusively with civil, not religious, marriage. To further clarify this fact, several states that recognize same-sex marriage, including New Hampshire, added language to their marriage bills expressly protecting the right of churches to choose not to recognize same-sex marriages if they go against their religious teachings, a model that could certainly be followed in Rhode Island to appease any state legislators with lingering concerns about church autonomy.

Rhode Island is a critical state in the debate over marriage equality.  Aside from being the last state in New England without marriage equality (which would help fulfill GLAD's "6 by 12" pledge), Rhode Island is also the most Catholic state in the entire country.  And the institutional Catholic Church, as we're seeing in Maine and as we've seen throughout the country in places like California and Massachusetts, likes to fall on the side of stealing human rights away from gay and lesbian couples.

Interestingly enough, however, the majority of Catholics in Rhode Island support marriage equality. Which is powerful.  Right now there is essentially a void among progressive Catholic groups when it comes to the issue of same-sex marriage.  None of the major progressive Catholic groups in the country have endorsed marriage equality, and no progressive bishop has spoken up in favor of same-sex marriage.  Perhaps...and maybe this is just wishful thinking...if the most Catholic state in the country could enact marriage equality, it would provide enough cover for a few Catholic organizations or a few Catholic clergy to break out of the headlock that the institutional church has them in on the issue of marriage equality.