President Obama Signs Rhode Island Disaster Declaration

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For Immediate Release March 22, 2013 President Obama Signs Rhode Island Disaster Declaration

The President today declared a major disaster exists in the State of Rhode Island and ordered Federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the area affected by the severe winter storm and snowstorm during the period of February 8-9, 2013.

Federal funding is available to state and eligible local governments and certain private nonprofit organizations on a cost-sharing basis for emergency work and the repair or replacement of facilities damaged by the severe winter storm and snowstorm in the counties of Bristol, Kent, Newport, Providence, and Washington.
 
In addition, federal funding is available to the state and eligible local governments on a cost-sharing basis for snow assistance for a continuous 48-hour period during or proximate to the incident period in Kent, Providence, and Washington Counties.
 
Federal funding is also available on a cost-sharing basis for hazard mitigation measures statewide.
 
W. Craig Fugate, Administrator, Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Department of Homeland Security, named James N. Russo as the Federal Coordinating Officer for federal recovery operations in the affected area. 
 
FEMA said additional designations may be made at a later date if requested by the state and warranted by the results of further damage assessments.

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WATCH: 12-Year-Old Urges Rhode Island To Grant His Parents Equality

Thursday evening, the Rhode Island Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on marriage equality legislation that lasted a staggering 12 hours — until 4:57 AM Friday morning — allowing every single individual who wanted to testify for or against the bill to do so. One of the most compelling testimonies came from 12-year-old Matthew Lannon, who explained about why his two moms and two dads deserve marriage:

LANNON: Both my moms and my dads have been together for 14 years. When I think about what marriage means to me, I think it’s about two people that love each other. My parents certainly fit that description. Although they can’t legally marry, their commitments are very very real. My parents have stayed together through sickness and health, through thick and thin, through good times and bad…

So even though I’m only 12, I have some ideas of what’s important to me. I want to be someone who knows no discrimination. I want to become a man who doesn’t judge someone by the color of their skin, their gender, or who they love. I want to use the gift I was given to help make the world a better place.

In closing, here’s what I believe. If there’s one thing you don’t mess with in life, it’s love. My parents and all the other gay and lesbian people here just want to be happy, just like you. All they want is to be treated fairly. But unlike most of you, they have to come again here year after year and explain over and over why their love is equal to yours. This year, you have the opportunity to change that. I say: choose love.

Watch it (via Providence Journal):

The New Civil Rights Movement has more analysis of the long night of testimony. This is the first time marriage equality has been considered in the Senate, having previously been blocked by Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed (D). The committee did not vote before convening this morning.

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POLL: 57 Of Rhode Islanders Support Marriage Equality

A new Public Policy Polling poll has found that 57 percent of Rhode Island voters approve marriage equality while only 36 percent do not. The poll also found that 31 percent prefer civil unions over marriage, but civil unions have not been successful in Rhode Island since they passed in 2011. Only 13 percent oppose any legal recognition of same-sex couples. The most recent poll, from October, similarly found a majority support for equality, with a 56-36 split. Despite the broad support, it’s unclear how soon or swiftly Senate Democrats will act now that the marriage equality bill has passed the House.

The Rhode Island State Council of Churches voted to endorse marriage equality today, calling it an issue of “social justice, civil rights, and conscience.”  

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BREAKING: Rhode Island House Passes Marriage Equality

Openly gay Rep. Frank Ferri (D), one of the bill's sponsors.

As expected, the Rhode Island House of Representatives voted today to approve marriage equality legislation with a vote of 51-19. The bill now advances to the Senate, where the Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed (D) previously blocked a vote. This year, though, Paiva Weed has promised to allow a vote after approval in the House, but it’s unclear when that will occur. Gov. Lincoln Chafee (I) has promised to sign the bill and block any attempts to refer the question to a referendum.

An October poll showed that 56 percent of Rhode Island voters support marriage equality. Same-sex marriages from other states are already recognized by state agencies. After over a year of offering civil unions, less than 100 couples bothered to obtain one. All other states in New England — Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Connecticut — already recognize and offer same-sex marriages.

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Conservatives Expect Rhode Island To Protect Discrimination Against Same-Sex Marriages

This afternoon, the Rhode Island House Judiciary Committee will hold its first hearing on a bill to legalize same-sex marriage. Coalitions have already formed on both sides of the issue with Rhode Islanders United for Marriage supporting equality and the National Organization for Marriage’s Rhode Island for Marriage opposing it. 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.

The OneNewsNow article highlighting Fiedorek’s remarks clarify her intention that justices, judges, court commissioners, business owners, and counselors should all have protections to not recognize same-sex marriages.

Unfortunately, this is a realistic problem for the Rhode Island legislation. When lawmakers attempted to pass marriage equality in 2011, they ended up settling on a civil unions bill with some of the most extreme “religious exemptions” of any similar bill in the country. According to that law, administrators at religion-run schools, hospitals, and businesses can simply refuse to treat civil unions as valid if doing so violates their religious beliefs, essentially making legal recognition of civil unions pointless. Combined with the access and recognition of same-sex marriages from neighboring states, it’s unsurprising that civil unions have been “a complete failure” in the state, with less than 100 couples bothering to get one after the law had been in effect over a year.

Gov. Lincoln Chafee (I), who is eager for the new legislation to pass, issued an executive order last May requiring all state agencies to recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere. The kind of exemptions ADF is demanding could essentially roll back protections married same-sex couples already enjoy. Fortunately, there is little reason for lawmakers to cave to such inordinate invitations to discriminate, as 56 percent of voters support marriage equality.

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