Tag Archives: State: Rhode Island

Josh Israel at Think Progress: The Losing Arguments Of Anti-LGBT ‘Alliance Defending Freedom’

ADF testimony in Minnesota, Colorado, and Washington all failed to sway legislators. Asked whether ADF believes its tact has been effective or swayed any lawmakers’ votes, legal counsel Jim Campbell told ThinkProgress: “First Amendment-protected freedoms are vital to the continued flourishing of our constitutional republic. They should not be ignored by state legislators who vote to redefine marriage. The failure to respect freedoms long-enshrined in our Constitution will lead to needless litigation. Sadly, even when those rights are eventually vindicated in court, the legal process will take a significant toll on innocent citizens who are simply trying to live in accordance with their conscience. Alliance Defending Freedom will be at the forefront of defending those Americans.”

CNSNews: Bishop Thomas Tobin, head of the Catholic diocese of Providence, said the “gay marriage” bill signed into law in Rhode Island by its governor, Lincoln Chafee, constituted a “new challenge of the post-Christian era into which, clearly, we have now entered.”

Engage Family Minute provides a quick summary.

WPRI (AP): Legislation to allow gay couples to marry in Rhode Island will probably be signed into law by the end of the week.

PolicyMic: Opponents to Delaware’s bill cite concerns over religious liberties — worried that business owners who refuse marriage-related services for gay and lesbian couples could be hit with discrimination charges. “If there’s an exemption for right of conscience,” said Jordan Lorence, attorney of the conservative religious liberties group Alliance Defending Freedom, “I don’t see it.”

Boston Globe (AP): Phone banks, an army of volunteers and alliances with organized labor, business leaders and religious clergy propelled gay marriage to victory in Rhode Island this week, a savvy and coordinated strategy that relied on growing public support and old-fashioned bare-knuckle politics.

Providence Journal: The state Senate voted 26 to 12 Wednesday to allow same-sex couples to marry in Rhode Island as early as August 1.

Boston Globe: The Rhode Island Senate is poised to hold a landmark vote Wednesday on gay marriage legislation, the culmination of years of efforts by supporters who want to see the state join the rest of New England in allowing gays and lesbians to wed.

AP: The five Republicans in the Rhode Island Senate are backing gay marriage as a legislative committee prepares for a pivotal vote on the issue.

Providence Journal: The Providence Chamber of Commerce’s board chairman and two other business leaders said Monday legalizing same-sex marriage would remove one hurdle that makes it hard for R.I. businesses to compete.

Brown Daily Herald: The House approved a bill legalizing same-sex marriage in January that is slated for a vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee next week.

Boston Globe: Gay marriage could be the first big debate after the General Assembly reconvenes April 23. The session began with a bang in January, with the House easily passing legislation that would allow gay couples to wed. A Senate vote is expected within a few weeks.

Patch.com: The Coventry senator says he hasn’t made a “firm decision” yet on voting to allow SSM legislation to be voted on by the full Senate.

Washington Blade: Kelly Frederick [Fiedorek] of the Alliance Defending Freedom said marriage and civil unions for same-sex couples in Massachusetts, D.C. and Illinois “forced” Catholic Charities in the three jurisdictions “out of the adoption business because of their religious beliefs.”

Brown Daily Herald: The Senate Judiciary committee will meet Thursday to hear two same-sex marriage bills, including one that would legalize same-sex marriage — the Senate version of the bill that passed the House in January.

Providence Journal: Ciccone’s bill calls for a statewide vote on a proposed amendment to the state Constitution that would say: “Marriage is the legally-recognized union of two people. The right of the people to marry shall not be denied on the basis of the gender of the parties.”

Boston Globe: Valente and Bond hope Rhode Island joins the rest of New England this year in allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry. But they are concerned that the treatment they received may still be allowed if lawmakers insert a broad exemption allowing religious organizations like churches, hospitals, and schools — or private businesses — to ignore the law and decide for themselves whether to extend benefits and rights to married gay couples.

WPRI.com: Same-sex marriage has been a national and state battle for years, and the latest poll by Brown University shows 60.4% of Rhode Islander’s are in favor of giving the right to marry to gay and lesbian couples.

Huffington Post: New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman and Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley plan to file a friend-of-the-court brief on Friday, their offices said. Officials in California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington, as well as the District of Columbia, will join the amicus brief.

Providence Journal: Board of Rabbis of Greater Rhode Island has announced its support for legislation to allow same-sex couples to marry in Rhode Island.

Star Tribune: Freedom to Marry plans to spend cash in Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, New Jersey, Rhode Island as well as Minnesota.

NECN.com: The leaders of the Rhode Island Bar Association have endorsed a proposal to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry.

Religion Clause Blog: Following up on a right-to-sue letter it obtained from the Rhode Island Commission for Human Rights (see prior related posting), the Freedom From Religion Foundation has filed a state court lawsuit against a florist who refused to deliver flowers ordered by FFRF for a successful plaintiff in an Establishment Clause case.

Providence Journal: The Democrats who lead Rhode Island’s Senate say they’re in no rush to take up a bill legalizing same-sex marriage despite the House of Representatives’ overwhelming vote in favor of the measure Thursday.

AP: The leader of Rhode Island’s Senate says the fate of gay marriage legislation could hinge on the exemptions it includes for religious organizations that oppose it.

Turnto10.com: Legislation to allow same-sex marriage in Rhode Island is headed for a vote in the state House of Representatives after being unanimously endorsed Tuesday by a legislative committee.

Boston Globe: The House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to vote on the bill Tuesday. The legislation is expected to pass.

WPRI.com: The House Judiciary Committee has scheduled a vote on the measure for Tuesday.

Providence Journal: The committee voted at the start of the meeting to hold the bill for further study. A vote to send it to the House floor could happen next week at the earliest, said House spokesman Larry Berman.

Think Progress: It seems conservatives will not be holding back in their assault on the rights of same-sex couples, as demonstrated by the testimony Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Kellie Fiedorek will offer at today’s meeting: FIEDOREK: Religious freedom belongs to everyone, not just a handful of people. The government cannot limit constitutionally protected religious liberties in a way that’s foreign to our Constitution. This bill fails to ensure that those liberties of every Rhode Island citizen will be respected. The First Amendment’s guarantee of religious freedom for all Americans is not limited to the four walls of a church.

One News Now: ADF attorney Kellie Fiedorek is taking a role in testifying today before the Rhode Island House Committee on Judiciary. “Religious freedom belongs to everyone, not just a handful of people,” she offers in a statement provided to OneNewsNow. “The government cannot limit constitutionally protected religious liberties in a way that’s foreign to our Constitution. This bill fails to ensure that those liberties of every Rhode Island citizen will be respected. The First Amendment’s guarantee of religious freedom for all Americans is not limited to the four walls of a church.”

AP: Supporters of same-sex marriage rights plan to assemble at the Rhode Island Statehouse to urge lawmakers to make the smallest state the 10th to allow gay and lesbian couples to wed – and the last to do so in New England.

Alliance Defending Freedom Litigation Counsel Kellie Fiedorek will testify Tuesday on the lack of safeguards for religious freedom in a Rhode Island bill (H 5015) that proposes to redefine marriage.

TheRICatholic.com: The proposal to legalize “same-sex marriage” in the State of Rhode Island is immoral and unnecessary. Despite enormous political pressure, the General Assembly should stand firm, resist the current fashionable trend, and continue to uphold its longstanding commitment to marriage as traditionally defined.

WPRI.com: Rhode Island House Speaker Gordon Fox has started the 2013 legislative session with a commitment to hold a vote on gay marriage before the end of the month.

Providence Journal: Legislation allowing gay couples to marry in Rhode Island will be introduced on Thursday, the bill’s longtime sponsor, state Rep. Arthur Handy, said Tuesday, the opening day of the 2013 General Assembly session.

WPRI.com: The state Senate president said Monday she anticipates a committee vote on same-sex marriage in the coming legislative session, despite her opposition to it, if the House of Representatives endorses it.

William McGurn at the Wall Street Journal: And the American people were again reminded of the apparent inability of so many of our bluest bloods to distinguish between upholding religious pluralism and enforcing anti-religion.

National Review embeds video of the debate.

Liberty Counsel: For the second year, Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee will not use “Christmas” to describe the evergreen tree decorated to celebrate December 25. “Governor, what do you call a green, pointed, prickly tree we decorate in December? Everyone except for the governor knows it’s a Christmas tree,” said Mat Staver, Founder and Chairman of Liberty Counsel.

SB Sun: Coming off successful measures legalizing gay marriage in Maine, Maryland and Washington, gay rights activists are targeting:

— Oregon and Hawaii in the West;
— Minnesota and Illinois in the Midwest;
— New Jersey, Delaware and Rhode Island in the Northeast.
All of those states except Minnesota already allow civil unions. All are near other U.S. states which now allow gay marriage.

Politico: Advocates have identified Oregon, Rhode Island, Delaware, Minnesota, Colorado, Hawaii and New Jersey as states where they believe that as early as 2014 they’ll see gay marriage legalized through ballot measures, court decisions or state legislative action.

NY Times: They are also preparing for what they hope will be another milestone: the electoral reversal of a constitutional amendment defining marriage . . . campaigners see the potential for legislative gains in Delaware; Hawaii; Illinois; Rhode Island; Minnesota, where they beat back a restrictive amendment last Tuesday; and New Jersey, where Gov. Chris Christie vetoed a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in February . . .

Boston.com (AP): Ray Sullivan, campaign director for the group Fight Back RI, says the General Assembly should have at least four or five additional supporters of same-sex marriage following Tuesday’s election.

The Call: The Freedom From Religion Foundation stopped short of promising a lawsuit over the cross, but it says it is in the process of seeking an attorney from the area to represent the organization.

WPRI.com: Despite the recent controversy surrounding the Veteran’s Memorial Cross outside of the Woonsocket Fire Station, the piece was re-dedicated in a small ceremony earlier today

Providence Journal: The School Committee is expected to decide tonight whether to request a change in state law that would allow father-daughter school dances.

PBN.com: Although it may be surprising to see tiny Rhode Island in a legal fight with the U.S. Justice Department over the custody of an accused murderer – a battle that could go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court – in many ways it befits the state’s unique political geography.

Providence Journal: In a move that has taken some parents by surprise, the school department has announced that it is banning traditional “father-daughter” and “mother-son” activities, saying they violate state law.

Examiner.com: David Pierce, who has been a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives since 2006, was victorious in his Democratic primary for state senate on Sept. 11th and became the first openly gay candidate to be elected to the state senate as a freshman . . . The Victory Fund also celebrated the victory of out gay Rep. David Cicilline, a Rhode Island Democrat, who sealed the nomination for another term for reelection to Congress and two LGBT candidates in Delaware. Andrew Staton and Marie Mayor both took steps in becoming Deleware’s first out LGBT legislators . . .

Providence Journal: A local same-sex marriage advocacy group plans to pump between $4,000 and $5,000 into the campaign war chests of General Assembly candidates this week, according to spokesman Ray Sullivan. An out-of-state backer has already committed four times that.

WPRI.com: The political action committee trying to elect state lawmakers who support same-sex marriage is going all-out to defeat Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Michael McCaffrey. But Paul Jabour, the committee’s vice chairman, isn’t getting the same treatment.

The Hill: Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee (I), a former Republican, believes the Democratic party’s embrace of same-sex marriage will boost Democrats in swing states.

GoLocalProv.com: Only 68 Rhode Island couples have obtained civil union licenses since the civil union law took effect earlier this year, according to a press release sent today by the ACLU.

WPRI.com: Muslims from a North Smithfield mosque are asking for extra protection after a sign outside their place of worship was vandalized over the weekend.

FoxNews: “We will defend this monument no matter what,” he told MyFoxBoston.com. Fontaine said the monument is a symbol of the community, and the city is prepared to fight to keep the monument where it stands.

630wpro.com: An atheist group based in Wisconsin has sent a second letter to the city of Woonsocket calling for the removal of a war memorial featuring a Latin cross from city property.

Boston Globe: A state law that bars registered sex offenders from living within 300 feet of a school is unconstitutional because it is too vague and overly broad, the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union said Monday as it filed a lawsuit on behalf of three men who have been told by police they must move or face arrest.

ABC6.com (includes video): The battle over Cranston’s controversial prayer banner may be over, but months after it was removed from Cranston West High School, it’s future is still unclear. Even its current location is a mystery. The controversy over the banner is not easily forgotten, especially for Cranston West alum Bobby Bach. He and other alumni started a face book page during the court battle over the banner, so that if it had to come down, it would be preserved.

WPRI.com: House Speaker Gordon Fox says he will call a vote next year on legalizing same-sex marriage in Rhode Island.

Providence Journal: Governor Chafee is allowing legislation inspired by the recent controversy over a memorial cross in front of a Woonsocket fire station to become law without his signature.

Reuters: Labor unions sued the state of Rhode Island on Friday over sweeping public pension reforms passed last year, putting the July 1 implementation date at risk of delay.

AP: Here’s a look at the 10 states with the lowest funding percentages in 2010, according a new report from the Pew Center on the States . . .

LifeSiteNews: In March, the Alliance Defense Fund sued Chafee for issuing an executive order to create a health care exchange under ObamaCare that would fund elective abortion.

Valley Breeze: Rep. James McLaughlin, a Democrat who represents Cumberland and Central Falls, filed a bill last week, H-8143, that seeks to protect community monuments with religious symbols by classifying them as having “secular traditional, cultural or community recognition and value.” And it creates a $1 million defense fund in case of challenges.

Washington Post (AP): Rhode Island’s governor on Monday declared that the state will recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere, giving gay couples the same rights as heterosexual ones when it comes to health insurance and a slew of other benefits.

Boston Globe: A group of seven people has notified a federal court that they’re appealing a ruling that barred them from intervening in a lawsuit that resulted in the removal of a prayer banner at a Rhode Island public high school.

One News Now: ADF attorney Erik Stanley weighs in on the issue. “Public monuments to those who gave the ultimate sacrifice should not be dismantled because a few offended activists want to scrub the public square clean of anything that hints of religion,” says Stanley . . . ADF attorney Joe Infranco says that complaint is getting old. “The idea that this 91-year-old memorial is unconstitutional is a tiresome claim from a radical group that has dreamed of a purely secularized society for years,” states Infranco.

Religion Clause Blog: In Rogers v. Mulholland, (D RI, May 4, 2012), a Rhode Island federal district court rejected claims by municipal taxpayers that the city of Pawtucket violated the Establishment Clause in the way it allocated use of publicly owned athletic fields for use by private religious schools.

The Alliance Defense Fund has offered to defend a World War I and II memorial cross in Woonsocket, R.I., free of charge if an atheist group makes good on its threats to sue over it. ADF has also advised local veterans’ groups of its offer to defend the constitutionality of the 91-year-old memorial, which stands in the parking lot of the town’s fire station.

WPRI.com: Rhode Island’s House Judiciary Committee is going to hear several bills related to same-sex unions, marriage and divorce Wednesday . . .

Boston Globe (AP): The Rhode Island attorney general said Wednesday that a war monument topped with a cross on city property in Woonsocket “transcends religion” and should not be removed because of a complaint from an atheist group.

Boston Globe: The state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union compiled the number and says it demonstrates that the civil union law is a “complete failure.”

WoonsocketCall.com: Buoyed by offers of free legal assistance and an outpouring of public support, the City Council will decide tonight whether to establish a defense fund to keep the monument at Place Jolicoeur, in the parking lot of Fire Station No. 2, with the Latin cross intact . . . The Liberty Counsel, the Alliance Defense Fund and the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which supported Cranston’s fight to save a prayer banner, are among the national organizations offering free legal help.