"Same-sex marriage approved in Rhode Island" by Mark Arsenault and Travis Andersen | Globe Staff, May 03, 2013
PROVIDENCE — As more than 1,000 ecstatic supporters looked on, Governor Lincoln Chafee on Thursday signed legislation making Rhode Island the 10th state in the nation to permit gays and lesbians to wed, and establishing gay marriage as the law of the land throughout all of New England.
“Today, we are making history,” Chafee told the crowd. “We are living up to the ideals of our founders.”
He also cast the bill in economic terms, saying vital new businesses want to come to places that reflect their values, “and now, Rhode Island does.”
Even as gay couples won the right to marry in other New England states over the past decade, the political and religious opposition in Rhode Island remained formidable, with bills repeatedly failing in the Legislature.
“Democracy, though it may take a long time, does work,” said House Speaker Gordon Fox, who is gay.
Whoops and energetic applause roared through the building’s marble halls when state representatives gave final approval to the measure Thursday afternoon, in a vote to reconcile two slightly different versions of the bill. Supporters hugged on the floor of the House chamber and wiped back tears. A rainbow flag hung from the gallery. About 40 gay marriage proponents sang “My Country, ’Tis of Thee.”
The Roman Catholic Church fought fiercely against the measure in a state that is liberal but also heavily Catholic. In defeat, Bishop Thomas J. Tobin, the outspoken head of the Diocese of Providence, issued a letter saying he is “profoundly disappointed that Rhode Island has approved legislation that seeks to legitimize ‘same-sex marriage,’ ” which he called “objectively sinful.”
“Catholics should examine their consciences very carefully before deciding whether or not to endorse same-sex relationships or attend same-sex ceremonies, realizing that to do so might harm their relationship with God and cause significant scandal to others,” Tobin said....
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"Man charged with attacking menorah"Associated Press, December 12, 2012
A Cranston man has been jailed on charges of trying to destroy a giant menorah displayed outside Providence City Hall. The Providence Journal reported that police said Peter Zendran was trying to knock down the display on Sunday morning as two firefighters happened to drive by. The firefighters chased Zendran and held him for police. Police said the 34-year-old Zendran said Providence should not be putting up religious displays in front of City Hall. Zendran, wearing a patch of the Iranian flag on his shirt, pleaded not guilty in District Court on Monday to charges of malicious damage and resisting arrest."
I put that one in because it made me happy, although I suspect a false flag because of the patch.
Also see:
Idiot kid
Westerly Hospital to stop delivering babies
"National Guard unit heads to Afghanistan
Another Rhode Island National Guard unit is heading to Afghanistan. A send-off ceremony was held Sunday for the 169th Military Police Company, which is based in Warren. Captain Michael Calcagni said the unit has been in training for 10 months. It will depart later in the week for Camp Shelby in Mississippi and will head overseas in about a month. The 150 soldiers from the 169th are scheduled to spend 10 months in Afghanistan and will be responsible for providing security at military facilities and guarding prisoners. The same unit had been deployed in Iraq in 2007 and 2008."
Related:
"The boat hit him, hard, in the back, and then the blades of the propeller slashed into him, severing all the major muscles on the left side of his back and cutting into five bones in his spinal column. When he finally surfaced, gasping for air, he couldn’t move his legs or his left arm."
I
hope all that made you happy.
