Rob Horowitz: Let’s Celebrate RI’s Adoption of Marriage Equality
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
This week, Rhode Island will become the 10th state in the nation to adopt marriage equality. The impressive and decisive 26 to 12 State Senate vote in favor of marriage equality legislation last week paves the way for passage. The remaining procedural steps are mere formalities. They include another vote in the House–where marriage equality has already passed by an overwhelming majority–required because the final legislative language must be identical in both chambers, as well as the Governor’s approval indicated by his signature on the passed legislation. These actions will be completed in the next couple of days.
The strong and rapidly growing political momentum behind marriage equality in Rhode Island is best illustrated by the unanimous support of the legislation by the five members of the State Senate Republican Caucus–support which has received prominent national media attention serving as further evidence that the anti-same sex marriage orthodoxy of the Republican Party nationally is cracking.
“Our Senate Republican Caucus is deeply committed to the values of freedom, liberty and limited government. In accordance with those values, we believe that freedom means freedom for everyone, and that every citizen of Rhode Island deserves the freedom to marry the person they love,” said the Republican State Senators in a statement issued before the vote last week.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTThis kind of strong statement of support by Republican officeholders, even in a Northeastern state as solidly blue as Rhode Island would have been unimaginable just a few years ago. It is worth noting that less than a decade ago in 2004 President Bush used his strong opposition to marriage equality as an effective wedge issue in his successful re-election campaign. In that year, only 31% of Americans supported same sex marriage, while 60% were opposed. Republican Pollster Jan van Lohuizen explains this pronounced shift in public opinion: “As more people have become aware of friends and family members who are gay, attitudes have begun to shift at an accelerated pace.”
The overwhelming margin in the State Senate–which until recently was a source of strong resistance to marriage equality–can also be attributed to marked and welcome changes of heart by some of the more socially conservative Senate Democrats, including Mary Ellen Goodwin and Paul Fogarty. In a state with the second highest percentage of Catholics in the nation where the organized Catholic Church remains a potent political force, strongly opposing same sex marriage, these decisions are political mixed blessings and can not be explained simply as just following the path of political least resistance. Despite the growing public support for same sex marriage, they demonstrate some wrestling of conscience and courage.
And at its core the fight for marriage equality is about fundamental principle. To put it simply, gay Americans deserve the same treatment and rights as the rest of us and that includes the right to marry. Marriage equality challenges us to live up to the fundamental principles upon which our nation was founded. Rhode Island is on the cusp of meeting this challenge and that is something we all should truly celebrate.
Rob Horowitz is a strategic and communications consultant who provides general consulting, public relations, direct mail services and polling for national and state issue organizations, våarious non-profits and elected officials and candidates. He is an Adjunct Professor of Political Science at the University of Rhode Island.
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