Less than a week after New York State radically altered the definition of marriage to include people of the same-sex, Rhode Island has taken a different tact. By a vote of 21-16, the State Senate approved legislation, already approved by the House, that approved same-sex unions, without calling those arrangements marriages.  The legislation grants the same benefits and rights to same-sex couples that married couples enjoy.
But the bill seems to have made no one happy.  Not only is the Bishop of Providence upset by the bill, but proponents of same-sex marriage aren’t happy about it either.  They feel that the act did not go far enough and that exemptions to religious groups are too far-reaching.
Marriage Equality Rhode Island, and nine other groups which support same-sex marriage, actually wanted Gov. Lincoln Chafee to veto the bill because it allows religiously affiliated organizations – including hospitals, day care centers, schools or cemeteries – not to recognize same-sex unions.
They went so far as to call the state’s proposal a “step backward” in the cause of civil rights.  Yet gay activist groups hailed New York’s Marriage Equality Bill a landmark in granting civil rights, even though it also included exemptions for religious groups.

Confused, Not Collective
The bottom line is that these advocacy groups are so confused that they do not know what they want. They’re advocating different agendas and nothing seems to please them.
That’s indicative of this whole debate over same-sex marriage. Confusion and double talk.  Even legislators, who realize that a marriage is between a man and a woman, are so confused by all the rhetoric that they are willing to compromise their principles and vote on behalf of some vague notion of non-discrimination.
What is being forgotten is the notion of objective truth.  Red is in fact red.  Blue is in fact blue. But we are being told that the legislatures have the power to turn red into blue and blue into red.
It’s particularly troubling that Rhode Island would succumb to this kind of pressure from gay rights groups.
Father Giacomo Capoverdi, pastor of St. Leo the Great Church, Pawtucket, R.I., was quoted in the Rhode Island Catholic as saying that for a state that is 67% Catholic, he’s embarrassed that more who call themselves Catholic aren’t standing publicly in opposition to civil unions.
“I think Christians should bind together and rise up against this,” he said.
“Our freedoms do not come from man, they come from God himself,” he said. “Our whole belief system hinges on the fact that our inalienable rights come from God.”
“A civil union can never be accepted as a legitimate alternative to matrimony,” said Providence Bishop Thomas J. Tobin in a statement following the State Senate’s vote.
These are two refreshing perspectives.  Wouldn’t it be nice if we heard more clear and rational thinking from community leaders.