The Rhode Island House has scheduled a
hearing on a proposed gay marriage bill.
“House judiciary committee will hold
Tuesday hearing on legis allowing gay marriage in #RI, chairwoman
Edith Ajello says on House floor,” Philip Marcelo, state House
reporter for the Providence Journal, tweeted on Friday.
The announcement sets up a potential
vote in the House before month's end, though a committee vote on the
measure has not been scheduled. Previous hearings on the issue went
long into the night and attracted hundreds of people.
Bills seeking to legalize marriage
equality in Rhode Island were introduced in both houses earlier this
month.
While Democrats control both chambers
of the General Assembly, passage in the Senate, where Democratic
leaders oppose marriage equality, remains in doubt. Currently, the
proposal has only 11 co-sponsors in the 38-member Senate.
It is Democratic Representative Arthur
Handy's eleventh introduction of the legislation.
Governor Lincoln Chafee, an
independent, has said he's eager to sign the bill into law.
Rhode Island became the only New
England state without marriage equality after Maine voters in
November approved a referendum on the issue.