The Rhode Island Senate on Wednesday
approved a gay marriage bill, making the nation's smallest state the
tenth to legalize such unions.
Senators approved the measure with a
26-12 vote after debating the issue for roughly 1 hour.
The move comes a day after the Senate
Judiciary Committee approved the bill with a 7-4 vote and rejected a
second related bill which sought to allow voters to decide the issue.
The House overwhelmingly approved the measure in January.
Democratic Senator Donna Nesselbush,
the bill's champion in the chamber, thanked all members of the Rhode
Island General Assembly who had pushed the bill forward over the
years.
“Today's vote's culminates nearly a
half century of struggle by the gay community,” Nesselbush told
colleagues, adding that she was “deeply grateful” to have the
unanimous support of the chamber's Republican caucus.
(Related: Unanimous
Republican support for gay marriage in Rhode Island Senate.)
“On this historic day,” she said,
“I move passage of this historic legislation.”
An amendment to the bill which sought
to let voters decide the issue offered by Democratic Senator Frank A.
Ciccone was rejected with a 28-10 vote.
Speaking on the marriage bill,
Democratic Senator Gayle Goldin said she wants “to raise my
children in a state that treats people equally and with respect. I
want my kinds to know that they and their friends will have the same
rights … regardless of sexual orientation.”
Republican Senator Dawson Hodgson said
he was proud “to be part of a GOP caucus that has unanimously
endorsed legal equality in our marriage laws.”
The bill must return to the House for a
largely procedural vote before heading to the desk of independent
Governor Lincoln Chafee, an outspoken supporter of marriage equality.