MERI Blog
Updates, news, action alerts and events from Marriage Equality Rhode Island.
Bill Clinton’s change of heart on marriage
While I would have preferred for him to support a federal expansion of marriage, it is good to hear the former president say clearly that he personally supports marriage equality. It takes a lot for people to admit they were once wrong on an issue, something especially hard for politicians. Kudos Bill for evolving on the issue!
(h/t to GayPolitics.com)
New Maine Marriage Equality Television Ad
Gov. Carcieri to Headline Anti-Gay Massachusetts Family Institute Annual Fundraising Banquet
(article originally posted on the Massachusetts Family Institute website)
“Massachusetts Family Institute is excited to announce that Rhode Island Governor Donald L. Carcieri will be our keynote speaker at our 18th Annual Fundraising Banquet to be held on Thursday, October 15 at 7 o’clock at the Newton Marriott. As governor, Carcieri has been an outspoken champion of life and traditional marriage.
Today, Rhode Island stands as the only New England state upholding marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Governor Carcieri has steadfastly threatened to veto any legislation seeking to change that definition and recently lent his support to the National Organization for Marriage. In 2007, the Rhode Island Supreme Court, with a majority of members appointed by Carcieri, refused to recognize same-sex “marriage,“ on the grounds that it is a question for the legislature, not the courts, to decide after public debate. Governor Carcieiri is also strongly pro-life, repeatedly speaking out against abortion.
Don Carcieri was elected Governor of Rhode Island in 2002, defeating the endorsed Republican candidate in the primary before earning victory over a Democrat with 15 years of political experience. Earlier, Carcieri had a career in business that was capped with his tenure as Chief Executive Officer of Cookson American and Joint Managing Director of Cookson Group Worldwide, a manufacturing company with more than 12,000 employees. In 1981, he moved his family to Kingston, Jamaica, where he headed the Catholic Relief Service’s West Indies operation for two years.
Governor Carcieri and his wife, Suzanne, were married in 1965 and have four children and 14 grandchildren.
The Banquet will be a celebration to unite and encourage those who are involved in the pro-family movement. This program will also include the presentation of Citizenship Awards to those unsung heroes who have shown courage, commitment and compassion in the effort to support marriage, strengthen the family and affirm Judeo-Chrisian values in the Commonwealth.
We hope that you will join us on October 15th as we receive encouragement from a model governor who has stood up consistently for our values and stayed true to his convictions on marriage and life.“
Religious groups play major role in campaign to repeal Maine marriage law
(via The Edge)
As they were in last year’s Proposition 8 campaign that banned marriage for same-sex couples in California, two prominent religious denominations appear to be playing crucial roles in the current effort to repeal the Maine marriage law.
The stakes are high. According to a poll conducted in April while lawmakers in Augusta debated the bill, voters were evenly divided on the issue: 49.5 percent said they opposed legalizing marriage for gays and lesbians, 47.3 percent said they supported it and 3.3 percent said they didn’t know.
The Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Latter Day Saints are pouring hundreds of thousands of dollars into Stand for Marriage Maine, the organization that has submitted more than 100,000 petition signatures. This figure is almost twice the number needed to place a referendum before voters in November that would ask them to repeal the bill lawmakers passed and Gov. John Baldacci signed into law on May 6. Maine is the fourth New England state to extend marriage to same-sex couples. New Hampshire followed suit a few weeks later, while Rhode Island remains the only state in the region that has not.
The People’s Veto, part of the Maine constitution, gives citizens the right to vote on, and possibly overturn, any law passed by the state legislature. To get on the ballot, citizens need to file a petition with the Maine secretary of state that has verified signatures amounting to at least 10 percent, or 55,087, of the total votes cast for governor in the most recent election.
Senate Should Vote Down Hate Crime Amendments from Sen. Sessions
(via HRC Backstory)
While the Matthew Shepard Act amendment was successfully adopted on Thursday, three other amendments related to hate crimes will be debated on Monday. HRC staff has now reviewed these three last minute amendments from Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) and believes that they are unnecessary, unhelpful and should not be adopted.
So what are the three amendments? The first Sessions Amendment would allow the death penalty to be applied in hate crimes cases under some circumstances. This Amendment is unnecessary and is a poison pill designed to kill the bill. The Amendment is being offered by and supported by Senators who oppose the Matthew Shepard Act. It’s ironic that the very Senators who have falsely argued that this bill would put clergy in jail because of their beliefs think that those same clergy should be subject to the death penalty.
The second Sessions Amendment would place an additional burden on the Justice Department to revise its long established guidelines for hate crimes cases. This Amendment is unnecessary. The Department already contains well-established, clear and precise guidelines to govern cases involving bias-motivated violence that work well.
Finally, the third Sessions Amendment would provide additional penalties for crimes involving servicemembers or their families. This Amendment is unnecessary. Existing statutes already provide special penalties on attacks against members of the Armed Services and veterans. In addition, the vague language of the Amendment is problematic. The Amendment provides for additional penalties for injuring the property of a serviceman or immediate family member. The scope of “family member” or what constitutes an “injury” to their property is unclear.
We hope that Senators vote down these amendments on Monday. Regardless of how the Senate disposes of these amendments, the Matthew Shepard Act will next head to a conference committee and then final votes in the House and Senate, likely in September. President Obama stands ready to sign it.
Same-Sex Couples Seek Immigration Benefit
(via NY Times)
WASHINGTON (AP)—Judy Rickard took an early retirement and a reduced pension so she could be assured of more time with her partner, a British citizen whose stays in the U.S. are limited to six months.
Rickard, 61, would have preferred to keep working at San Jose State University and sponsor her partner, Karin Bogliolo, for residency in the United States, just as heterosexual couples can. But U.S. law does not allow for that.
‘'If you’re going to have a system that’s designed to keep families together, it should focus on keeping families together,‘’ Rickard said.
That could soon change, as more than 100 lawmakers in the House and about 20 in the Senate have signed onto bills that would add the United States to the 19 countries that already recognize same-sex couples for immigration purposes.
Gay rights groups are encouraged that President Barack Obama has signaled that he would like to include couples like Rickard and Bogliolo in the bills.
Debate over Florida’s gay adoption ban heats up
(via The Edge)
Proposed legislation introduced by state Rep. Mary Brandenburg [D-West Palm Beach] earlier this month could potentially repeal a ban on same-sex couples from adopting children that has been a source of deep contention in the Sunshine State for more than three decades.
House Bill 3, which will go before lawmakers in their 2010 session, will face major opposition in the Republican-controlled House, particularly given that similar incarnations of the bill have languished for the past eight years. Activists remain resilient on the issue in spite of this sustained opposition. And an ongoing court battle continues to increase the already controversial legislation’s profile.
Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Cindy Lederman set a new precedent last November with her ruling in favor of foster father Frank Gill, who had attempted to adopt two brothers he had fostered for four years. In her decision, Lederman ruled that there was no “rational basis” to deny Gill’s adoption. She further concluded Florida’s adoption ban was unconstitutional, but the state immediately appealed the decision, which prevented it from being applied to other judicial courts.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida has taken up the case. The Third District Court of Appeal will begin to hear oral arguments on Aug. 26, but the case will likely reach the state Supreme Court.
Obama to NAACP: discrimination against ‘our gay brothers and sisters’ must end
(via Pam’s House Blend)
“The first thing we need to do is make real the words of your charter and eradicate prejudice, bigotry, and discrimination among citizens of the United States. I understand there may be a temptation among some to think that discrimination is no longer a problem in 2009. And I believe that overall, there’s probably never been less discrimination in America than there is today.
But make no mistake: the pain of discrimination is still felt in America. By African-American women paid less for doing the same work as colleagues of a different color and gender. By Latinos made to feel unwelcome in their own country. By Muslim Americans viewed with suspicion for simply kneeling down to pray. By our gay brothers and sisters, still taunted, still attacked, still denied their rights.
On the 45th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, discrimination must not stand. Not on account of color or gender; how you worship or who you love. Prejudice has no place in the United States of America.“
- President Obama at the July 16th NAACP Centennial Conference
Above quote appears around the 8 minute 30 second mark
Inequality is Messy Business
(via California Progress Report)
by Alice Kessler
Government Affairs Director
Equality California
In the aftermath of the California Supreme Court’s decision to uphold Proposition 8, which eliminated the right to marry for same-sex couples, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community members have been grappling with the injustices and uncertainties the discriminatory ban has created. Although Proposition 8 has produced an irrational, unequal situation for all same-sex couples, it has left same-sex couples who married outside the state especially confused about their rights. After the marriage ban was left intact, thousands of same-sex couples and their families who had married outside of California were left in the dark – the Court didn’t address how Proposition 8 impacted them.
In order to clarify the rights of same-sex couples married outside the state, Senator Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) introduced the Marriage Recognition and Family Protection Act, SB 54, sponsored by Equality California. The bill eases the anxieties of LGBT couples and their families by addressing two key issues. First, it confirms that same-sex couples who married outside of California before the passage of Proposition 8 are entitled to full recognition as married spouses, regardless of whether they married in-state or out-of-state. That rule is consistent with existing law, including the California Supreme Court’s holding in In re Marriage Cases that California cannot treat marriages differently based on whether they were performed in-state or out-of-state.
Second, SB 54 underscores that same-sex couples married outside of California after Proposition 8 passed, must be given all of the rights, protections, and responsibilities of spouses under California law, with the sole exception of the designation of “marriage.”
Helpless, as ex rips boy away
(via Salt Lake Tribune)
Parental rights » Even contracts don’t protect gays in Utah.
Gena Edvalson tried for years to be a mom. So when her partner of six years, Jana Dickson, became pregnant through artificial insemination and gave birth to a boy in March 2006, nothing brought her “instantly more joy.“ And nothing brought Edvalson more pain than a recent court ruling depriving her of a chance to even visit the child. After all, she had eyed every ultrasound. She had read Little Quack to “the little guy” when he was inside Dickson’s womb. She had clicked on a flashlight throughout his first night home from the hospital to check on the seeping babe.
Both Salt Lake City women, were “mama” and—with the help of lactation medication for Edvalson—both breast-fed the newborn. But the two split up when the boy was 17 months old and last week, after a yearlong legal fight, Edvalson was cut off from any contact with the 3-year-old she loves as a son. A 3rd District judge, citing a 2008 Utah law, upheld Dickson’s “fundamental” right, as the biological parent, to refuse visitation.
“I never want him to think I gave him up voluntarily. I never abandoned him,“ Edvalson wrote on her blog. “I loved him, and I love him still.“
Utah Court Says Non-Bio Mom Has No Rights to Her Child (Bilerico Project)
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