The NY Times News Alert: Rhode Island Lawmakers Pass Bill to Allow Civil Unions for Gays (206 hits)
The New York Times Wednesday, June 29, 2011 -- 7:40 PM EDT -----
Rhode Island Lawmakers Pass Bill to Allow Civil Unions for Gays
Less than a week after same-s*x marriage was legalized in New York, the Rhode Island State Senate approved on Wednesday evening a bill allowing not marriage, but civil unions for gay couples, despite fierce opposition from gay-rights advocates who called the legislation discriminatory.
The bill, which already passed in the state’s House of Representatives and which the governor said he will likely sign, would grant gay and lesbian couples most of the rights and benefits that Rhode Island provides married couples. It was offered as a compromise this spring after Gordon D. Fox, the openly gay speaker of the Democratic-controlled House, said he could not muster enough votes to pass a same-s*x marriage bill.
