Outgoing Rhode Island Governor Donald
Carcieri has agreed to meet in early November with a group of gay and
lesbian activists, but proceeded to speak out against gay marriage at
a fundraiser for a Massachusetts group opposed to gay and lesbian
rights.
Carcieri told the group that marriage
is “not a civil right.”
Last month, gay rights group Queer
Action Rhode Island asked the Republican governor to cancel a
scheduled appearance before the anti-gay group Massachusetts Family
Institute (MFI) at its 18th Annual Fundraising Banquet.
“We find it appalling that you, the
governor to all people of [Rhode Island], would support the
fundraising efforts of an organization that advocates against the
lives of some R.I. citizens,” the group said in a letter addressed
to the governor. “By making this fundraising speech, the negative
message you will send to Rhode Island's gay community – especially
its younger members – is extremely harmful.”
The MFI objects to any pro-gay
legislation – not just granting gay couples the right to marry –
including a transgender anti-discrimination bill currently being
debated by Massachusetts lawmakers. The group dubbed the bill the
“bathroom bill,” and called on lawmakers to “flush down the
toilet” the bill that adds gender identity to the list of protected
classes. They argue that the bill would invite sexual predators into
bathrooms, putting women and children in peril.
“DON'T WAIT UNTIL A WOMAN OR CHILD IS
ASSAULTED!,” the group says on their website. “Tell your state
representative to OPPOSE the Transgender Bill.”
The governor refused to cancel his
appearance, insisting he had a right to his personal opinion.
“I don't believe in discrimination
against anybody, I never have. I have a conviction about what
marriage should be defined as,” Carcieri said during a radio
interview on WPRO-AM. “That's nothing new. People can disagree.
I understand that, but, you know, I have a right to my view as well.”
Thursday night, the governor spoke for
about 45 minutes as gay rights activists protested outside the Newton
Marriott Hotel in an upscale Boston suburb, The Providence Journal
reported.
“It is not a civil right. I get
aggravated when it is portrayed that way,” Carcieri said of
marriage. “Marriage is a license by the state. It is about a
state's responsibility, which is the reason why states don't allow a
lot types of marriages.”
Susan Heroux, a member of Queer Action
Rhode Island, one of the groups the governor has agreed to speak
with, said the meeting will be “very important.”
“I don't know what his interaction is
with gay people, frankly,” she said. “And we don't expect to
change his views. But we do hope that by talking to him about our
daily lives, he can understand that this is not just ideology.”
Carcieri, who will be term-limited out
of office next year, remains a major obstacle to passing a gay
marriage bill in Rhode Island, which lawmakers have considered for
the last 12 years. The governor also backs an effort to place a gay
marriage ban in the Rhode Island Constitution. And in the spring, he
and his wife, Sue, joined the state's newly minted chapter of the
National Organization for Marriage, the nation's most vociferous
opponent of gay marriage.