News & Commentary

Last night, in an overflowing State House, the ACLU of Rhode Island delivered testimony in support of 13-H 5015, the same-sex marriage bill. This testimony asserted yet again that Rhode Island's civil union law never even purported to mirror the protections that are available to married couples. Civil unions create a separate and second class status, and an amendment that was attached to the 2011 legislation undermined rights same-sex couples already had under Rhode Island law and discriminated against same-sex couples in very real ways. History has taught us that "separate but equal" simply does not work. The ACLU of Rhode Island continues to urge the legislature to pass full marriage equality for all Rhode Islanders.

The following statement was issued today by the ACLU of RI in response to the Cranston sex discrimination controversy. The issue arose when a local parent-teacher organization, with initial support from the school, organized a “father-daughter dance” for girls attending the school, and a “mother-son” outing to a Pawtucket Red Sox baseball game for the boys:

Reviewing a year’s worth of data, the Rhode Island ACLU reported today that gay and lesbian couples have emphatically said “I Don’t!” to the state’s civil union law. According to statistics obtained from the RI Department of Health, a total of only 68 couples obtained civil union licenses in the first year of the law, which took effect July 1, 2011. By contrast, when civil union laws took effect earlier this year in two states with similar populations to Rhode Island, Hawaii reported the issuance of at least 106 civil union licenses, and Delaware reported more than 85, in the first month alone.

On the morning of a General Assembly hearing on three separate bills aimed at addressing the inequalities faced by Rhode Island’s same-sex couples, the RI ACLU released statistics today indicating that the state’s “compromise” civil union statute remains “a complete failure.” During the first three months of 2012, the ACLU reported today, only six couples took advantage of the state’s civil union law, which was enacted last year over the strong protests of the state’s gay and lesbian community.

The RI ACLU reported today that, after six months, “an embarrassingly small number of couples” – only forty-six – have taken advantage of Rhode Island’s civil union law, which was enacted over the strong protests of the state’s gay and lesbian community. Those figures contrast sharply with newly-released data from Delaware and Hawaii, states with similar populations to Rhode Island, and which implemented their own civil union laws last month. In the first month of those laws, Hawaii reported the issuance of at least 106 civil union licenses, and Delaware reported more than 85. Meanwhile, in Rhode Island, only seven couples obtained civil union licenses in November and December, including just one for the entire month of December. Those numbers remain far behind any other state with civil union, marriage or domestic partnership laws.

Following up on a detailed report it issued two months ago, the Rhode Island ACLU said today that the latest statistics show that Rhode Island’s civil union law, enacted over the strong protests of the community it was designed to benefit, remains “a fiasco” that highlights the need for passage of true marriage equality legislation.  The newest statistics show that in the first four months since the law took effect, only thirty-nine gay and lesbian couples have taken advantage of the statute to obtain “civil union” status.

The Rhode Island ACLU today issued a report calling Rhode Island’s new civil union law, enacted over the strong protests of the community it was designed to benefit, “a fiasco” that highlights the need for passage of true marriage equality legislation. The report states that “it is difficult to think of another ‘civil rights’ bill that has generated so much attention, yet done so little for so few.”

Below is a statement issued today by RI ACLU executive director Steven Brown on Speaker of the House Gordon Fox's announcement last week that instead of voting on a same-sex marriage bill, the House will instead consider "civil union" legislation in its place:

The Rhode Island ACLU today applauded the General Assembly for approving a series of civil liberties-protective bills over the veto of Governor Donald Carcieri. The three pieces of legislation – covering the right to privacy, civil rights, and gay rights – were enacted into law yesterday by overwhelming margins.