Rhode Island Senate passes civil union bill

The Rhode Island Senate has passed a civil union bill, which the governor has said he’ll most likely sign. While it may seem surprising, a number of lgbt activists are opposed to the bill and urged the governor to veto it. Apparently it includes extreme “religious exemptions” that allow both organizations and individuals to essentially ignore the civil unions. For instance, in theory, if someone was in a Catholic hospital, the hospital could refuse their civil-unioned partner admission to the room. If it passes we’ll have to see how this actually plays out. From the New York Times: PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Less than a week after same-sex marriage was legalized in New York, the Rhode Island State Senate on Wednesday evening approved a bill allowing not marriage, but civil unions for gay couples, despite fierce opposition from gay rights advocates who called the legislation discriminatory. The bill, which already passed in the state’s House of Representatives and which the governor said he was likely to sign, grants gay and lesbian couples most of the rights and benefits that Rhode Island provides married couples. It was offered as a compromise this spring after Gordon D. Fox, the openly gay speaker of the Democratic-controlled House, said he could not muster enough votes to pass a same-sex marriage bill. Gay rights advocates say the bill is unacceptable because it allows religious organizations not to recognize the unions. For example, they say, a Catholic hospital could choose not to allow a lesbian to make medical decisions on behalf of her partner, and a Catholic university could deny family medical leave to gay employees. “It’s a permission slip to ignore legal obligations,” said Karen L. Loewy, a lawyer at Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, or GLAD. [emphasis mine]]]>