PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- House Speaker Gordon D. Fox is calling the Senate committee's 7-4 vote for same-sex marriage a "huge step forward,'' and saying the bill could move through the House and onto the governor's desk "as early as next week'' if it clears its next big Senate hurdle on Wednesday.
"Imagine,'' he said in an impromptu interview at the State House. "Good stuff.''
After weeks of speculation that passage of the same-sex marriage bill could hinge on one swing vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee, Fox said 7-4 is "a strong vote,'' which he attributed to Senators listening "to hours and hours, into the dawn literally, of testimony; the advocacy of people out knocking on doors and so many good people across the state coming and saying: This is what we want. This is about progressing our state forward.