WASHINGTON — State lawmakers in Hawaii, Wyoming and Rhode Island faced various facets of the debate over gay “marriages” and civil unions in February.
A bill that would have legalized same-sex civil unions in Hawaii was shelved Feb. 27 when a key House committee went home without voting on it. Rep. Tommy Waters, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, announced after five hours of testimony he was deferring the bill and that there would be no vote.
Five days earlier in Wyoming, a bill that would have prohibited the recognition of out-of-state gay “marriages” died in committee.
Often called a defense of marriage act, the bill failed to make it out of the state House Rules Committee when House Speaker Roy Cohee, the chairman, cast a tie-breaking vote against it Feb. 22, The Associated Press (AP) reported. More than 40 states have a similar law.
Massachusetts is the only state that grants marriage licenses to homosexual couples, but its neighbor Rhode Island may consider honoring those “marriages.”
State Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch issued a legal opinion Feb. 21, stating Rhode Island should “recognize same-sex ‘marriages’ lawfully performed in Massachusetts as marriages in Rhode Island,” AP reported.
The nonbinding opinion was issued following a request by the Rhode Island Board of Governors for Higher Education, which oversees the state’s public colleges.
(TAB)
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