Amended legislation to permit civil unions in Rhode Island passed out of that state’s House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, according to The Providence Journal. A House floor vote is expected to occur Thursday.

This legislation represents a major setback for pro-equality activists, who had been assured earlier this year that full marriage equality was within reach. No organized group of LGBT persons in the state supports the civil-union legislation; Marriage Equality Rhode Island has consistently stated that civil unions — which lack recognition by the federal government and other states, and may be ignored by merchants and employers within the state — are an unacceptable alternative to marriage equality. The belief that civil unions represent a retreat to second-class citizenship has been bolstered by the fact that Rhode Island’s nearby neighbors — the states of Connecticut and Massachusetts — already enjoy marriage equality.

The Roman Catholic Church wields exceptional power in Rhode Island politics, and — despite polls which show a majority of state residents supporting marriage equality — the church opposes not only marriage equality but also the civil union legislation and any other recognition of same-sex relationships.

The Church’s ongoing political activity may be evident in the latest draft civil-union legislation, which appears to withdraw recognition of same-sex marriages performed in other states.

Here’s the new text which relates to unions performed in other states:

15-3.1-8. Reciprocity. — A civil union legally entered into in another jurisdiction, shall be recognized in Rhode Island as a civil union; provided, that the relationship meets the eligibility requirements of this chapter.

Here is the previous draft text:

15-3.1-8. Reciprocity. — A civil union, or a substantially similar legal relationship, legally entered into a another jurisdiction, shall be recognized in Rhode Island as a civil union. ”

There are a lot of hurt feelings among LGBT activists in the nation’s smallest state, especially after an abrupt and mysterious change of leadership at Marriage Equality Rhode Island which coincided with the retreat from marriage equality by the state’s Democratic leadership. An article which accuses national organizations of carpetbagging and obstructing marriage equality in Rhode Island for strategic reasons has been published on the Edge network of LGBT newspapers. The article’s sources are anonymous; the article was previously published and then removed from the web site of The Rainbow Times due to its unsourced allegations.

Forthwith, the remaining open tabs in my browser:

1.  Brian at Right Wing Watch points us to the new, garbled, illogical pamphlet from hate group leader Peter Sprigg on the Top Ten Harms of Same-Sex Marriage.  You haven’t become accustomed to thoughtful consideration or intelligence from the Family Research Council and that certainly won’t change today, because they’re still morons.

2.  How do anti-gay forces like the NOM leaders sleep at night?  Towleroad has a heartbreaking story and testimony from a lesbian couple in Rhode Island, one of whom is terminally ill, and who, because of that, have become accidental activists in the fight for marriage equality in that state.

3.  Since anti-gay wingnuts are also anti-choice/anti-woman wingnuts, PZ Myers has one for you.  In Nebraska, a woman was forced to give birth to a baby that they knew would not develop lungs, because her water broke very early in the pregnancy.  These are the kinds of situations that George Tiller specialized in.  The worst, most painful kind.  Because of the misogynistic bastards who pushed through a draconian anti-abortion law in Nebraska, that woman had to carry the pregnancy to term, watch her baby attempt to take one breath, and then die.  Thanks, fundamentalist Christians!  You really help out with things.

4.  Want to go to Mormon Heaven?  Ted Cox will show you how.  Hint:  there are secret handshakes involved!

Music coming up in a few.

Jennifer Roback Morse of the Ruth Institute, one of the arms of the National Organization for Marriage, testifying in Rhode Island:

I am here today to address those of you who have already made up your minds to redefine marriage. History will not be kind to you.

Haha, keep telling yourself that, Jen. Whatever makes you feel better about your wasted career.

Previous generations of social experimenters have caused unimaginable misery for millions of people.

Yeah, like desegregation and Loving v. Virginia and eradicating slavery, etc. Social experimenters!

Let me remind you of the essential public purpose of marriage. Marriage attaches mothers and fathers to their children, and to one another. Once you replace that essential public purpose with inessential, even frivolous private purposes, marriage will not be able to do its job.

And the millions of married couples without children have nothing to do with this, shut up you guys!

You are redefining parenthood, as a side effect of redefining marriage, without even considering what you are about to do.

And the millions of children already being brought up in different kinds of households having nothing to do with this either!

The same sex partner of a biological parent is never the other biological parent. Rather than attaching children to their biological parents, same sex marriage is the vehicle that separates children from a parent.

And transferring parentage to a person who deeply loves that child and will give it the best home possible is EVIL, you guys!

The gay community is not responsible for today’s generation of fatherless children. Butthey will be responsible for the next such generation.

Because no opposite sex couples will ever have children again!

And don’t tell me that we already have lots of children unattached to their parents.

It is inconvenient to my bigotry!

And don’t try to tell me “nothing so terrible has happened in Massachusetts.” Redefining marriage redefines the way in which generations relate to one another. It is ludicrous to believe that we would feel the full impact of such a change in a few years. It will take at least a generation, a full thirty years or more, before the full effects of redefining marriage work themselves out throughout the social system.

Way to cover your hind end, Jen.

The only argument you have is so-called “equality.” You have taken a venerable American concept and twisted it out of recognition. Equality used to mean limiting the power of the state to make irrelevant distinctions among citizens.

And that’s pretty much what we’re still talking about.

Far from limiting the power of the state, your version of equality has become a tool for the hostile takeover of civil society by the state. Churches are already under attack for daring to dissent from the new state-imposed Orthodoxy that marriage is whatever the government says it is.

No, they’re not.

And the pettiness of some of the complaints brought by same sex couples is simply staggering. Christian bed and breakfast owners have been sued for not allowing unmarried couples to stay in double rooms. They would have gladly rented them separate rooms, but that was not good enough for the thought police.

If those gay people had just paid double and let the Christian bed and breakfast owners break the law for the sake of their own bigotry, none of this would have happened!

Let me remind you that a vast majority of African Americans completely reject same sex marriage. They are deeply offended by the high-jacking of the moral authority of their civil rights movement.

By “they,” she means “all the blacks.” And this concludes today’s episode of “Black People Are Only Relevant When They’re Useful To My Argument.” Of course, countless black LGBT people would also like to get married.

She said some other things, but those were the dumbest ones.

It’s comforting to me when these wingnuts talk in public, because they always win people for our side when they do.

[h/t Joe]

Who knows why they don’t want you to see it?  It’s just more “voting to hurt gay people is our civil right” crap, but Jeremy points out that the poll cited is one of those famously skewed in-house polls made to look like the bigots have more popular support than they really do. There’s got to be another reason they pulled it, though, because lying is de rigueur for the anti-gay Right.

UPDATE: They took the ad down because spelling isn’t their strong suit, so they wanted a do-over.

The National Organization for (Heterosexual) Marriage’s Rhode Island affiliate today resorted to put-downs against the state’s new, Independent governor Lincoln Chafee. Way to go to win allies, folks!

Christopher Plante, the head of the affiliate, reportedly called Chafee an “accidental governor” for winning with 36 percent of the vote in a seven-way election.

Chafee’s opposition was headlined by Democrat Frank Caprio, the early presumptive winner who first alienated his progressive base by refusing to support marriage equality and then lost the support of the Democratic establishment by telling President Obama to “shove it” after Obama declined to pick sides and endorse either Caprio or Chafee. The GOP challenger, John Robitaille, was supported by just 20 percent of voters until Caprio’s campaign collapsed; he finished in second place with 34 percent of the vote.

The state’s churches will enjoy more of Plante’s thoughtful insights this Thursday, when he and the Family Research Council are hosting a three-hour summit for New England antigay pastors seeking to block marriage equality in the Ocean State.

Good news for us, bad news for Maggie Gallagher’s Whack-A-Mole show.   Nothing is a done deal yet, but it looks hopeful in Maryland:

Now it appears that the wait in Maryland is nearing an end. The State House’s Democratic majorities have been blocked by Senate President Thomas V. “Mike” Miller Jr., who has opposed gay marriage.

But not much longer. “We really feel like 2011 is the year,” said Morgan Meneses-Sheets, executive director of Equality Maryland, the state’s most prominent gay-marriage lobby group.

Miller has given his blessing to a committee realignment that all but ensures that a gay-marriage measure will make it to the Senate floor during this year’s session, which starts Wednesday – and presumably onto the desk of Gov. Martin O’Malley (D), who pledged last year to sign it.

Same-sex marriage, for all intents and purposes, already exists in Maryland. Last year, Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler issued an opinion that recognized out-of-state gay unions – legitimizing “MARC marriages,” where gay and lesbian couples can simply hop a train down to the District to get hitched before returning home with all the state rights and privileges afforded a married straight couple.

In other words, the debate at this point boils down to whether lawmakers want gay Maryland residents to spend their wedding budgets at home or in the District.

And in Rhode Island:

Two days after Governor Lincoln Chafee called on legislators to swiftly legalize same-sex marriage, a pair of lawmakers say they will introduce bills to do just that.

Representative Art Handy, Democrat of Cranston, and Senator Rhoda Perry, Democrat of Providence, said yesterday that they would reintroduce bills to legalize same-sex marriage. The bills died last year in the House and Senate.

The legislation has been introduced several times in recent years, but failed as it faced opposition from Governor Donald L. Carcieri, a Republican, and previous legislative leaders. Democrat Gordon Fox, who is openly gay and a cosponsor of the bill, became House speaker last year.

“I think the fact that we have a governor that’s enthusiastic about the legislation makes a huge difference,’’ Handy said.

If you live in Rhode Island or Maryland, now would be a good time to start calling your representatives.

Very nice:

It’s not short [by interwebs standards], so here’s the key text, via Towleroad:

“I urge the General Assembly to quickly consider and adopt this legislation. When marriage equality is the law in Rhode Island, we honor our forefathers who risked their lives and fortune in the pursuit of human equality. Rhode Island today must be as welcoming to all as [the state's founder] Roger Williams intended it to be. Mark my words, these two actions will do more for economic growth in our state than any economic development loan.”

Maggie Gallagher’s 2011 resolution, of course, is to find faster, more efficient ways to play Whack-A-Mole.

If you’re in Rhode Island, Maggie’s organization helpfully put together a list of the Senators who’ll be voting on this, with contact info and everything. Thank you, Maggie, for working so tirelessly, and accidentally, for gay equality!

Oh, this is sweet:

Rhode Island Governor-elect Lincoln Chafee has declined an anti-gay marriage group’s plea to consider putting gay marriage up for a vote, the Providence Journal reported.

Christopher Plante, director of the Rhode Island chapter of the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), told the paper that a meeting with Chafee aide Michael Trainor gave him the impression that the incoming administration was open to talking with opponents of gay marriage and was shocked when he received a letter nixing the idea.

“The governor elect feels that the issue should be addressed as soon as possible by the General Assembly, and does not believe that the question should be decided by a ballot referendum,” Trainor wrote. Chafee believes that “Marriage equality is a basic right that should be extended to all Rhode Islanders – a question not only of fairness and justice, but of economic development as well.”

Oh, the poor widdle NOM babies.

When will they ever understand that civil rights aren’t meant to be put up to a popular vote?

Campus Pride Demands National Action to Address LGBT Youth Bullying, Harassment and Suicide

In the wake of two college suicides — Tyler Clementi of Rutgers University and Raymond Chase of Johnson & Wales — Campus Pride reissues findings and recommendations from the “2010 State of Higher Education for LGBT People” released last week at a U.S. congressional briefing on Capitol Hill

Providence, Rhode Island — Campus Pride, the nation’s leading non-profit organization working with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) and ally college and university students, offers its condolences and support to the family of Raymond Chase who reportedly hung himself in his residence hall room this past Wednesday, September 29, 2010 on the campus of Johnson & Wales in Providence, Rhode Island.

“The loss of Raymond this week is the second college LGBT-related suicide in a week and the fifth teenage LGBT suicide in three weeks. The suicide of this openly gay young man is for reasons currently unknown; however, the recent pattern of LGBT youth suicides is cause for grave concern,” said Shane Windmeyer, executive director and founder of Campus Pride. “Campus Pride demands national action be taken to address youth bullying, harassment and the need for safety and inclusion for LGBT youth at colleges and universities across the country. We must not let these tragic deaths go unnoticed. Together we must act decisively to curb anti-LGBT bias incidents, harassment and acts of violence.”

Through its Q Research Institute for Higher Education, Campus Pride released last week its “2010 State of Higher Education for LGBT People” (executive summary). The in-depth research study is the most comprehensive national LGBT higher education study of its kind. Campus Pride surveyed more than 5,000 LGBT students, faculty and staff for the report. Findings demonstrate that these recent suicides and incidents of harassment are neither rare nor fleeting– they are REAL.

Among the findings in the report:

• One quarter (23%) of LGBQ staff, faculty, and students reported experiencing harassment (defined as any conduct that has interfered with your ability to work or learn). Almost all identified sexual identity as the basis of the harassment (83%). An even greater percentage of transgender students, faculty, & staff reported experiencing harassment (39%) with 87% identifying their gender identity/expression as the basis for the harassment. The form of the harassment experiences by transgender people was more overt and blatant.
• One-third of LGBQ (33%) and transgender (38%) students, faculty, and staff have seriously considered leaving their institution due to the challenging climate.
• More than half of all faculty, students, & staff hide their sexual identity (43%) or gender identity (63%) to avoid intimidation.
• More than a third of all transgender students, faculty, & staff(43%) and13% of LGBQ respondents feared for their physical safety.This finding was more salient for LGBQ students and for LGBQ and/or Transgender People of Color.

Campus Pride is the leading national nonprofit organization 501(c)(3) for student leaders and campus organizations working to create safer, more LGBT-friendly colleges and universities. It exists to give “voice and action” in building future LGBT and ally leaders. More info online at www.campuspride.org.

They just don’t think the rules apply to them:

A group that opposes same-sex marriage sued the Rhode Island Board of Elections, saying it wants to run ads in the governor’s race and other contests but doesn’t want to have to comply with state campaign finance laws.

The National Organization for Marriage said in a federal lawsuit that it should not be forced to report its expenditures or comply with spending limits or bans that are required for political action committees. The group said it shouldn’t be considered a PAC because it’s not controlled by a political candidate and does not spend the majority of its money on Rhode Island’s political races. It says the rules for PACs are burdensome and interfere with free speech.

“You have to negotiate the myriad regulations that apply, and for a lot of organizations, it’s just not worth it,” said Jeffrey Gallant, a lawyer with the James Madison Center for Free Speech, which is representing the group. “These laws are a deterrent for free and open speech in political matters.”

Childish brats.