PROVIDENCE, R.I. - With same-sex marriage legislation headed for a Senate vote Wednesday, the National Organization for Marriage Rhode Island is still hoping to convince Senators to "allow voters to determine the definition of marriage in Rhode Island.''
"Rhode Island voters deserve the right to vote on marriage just as voters in 35 other states have been able to do,'' said Brian Brown, NOM's president.
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved a bill that would allow same-gender couples to marry in Rhode Island, after defeating 6-5 a bill to place the issue on the November 2014 ballot.
Scott T. Spear, a member of NOM Rhode Island's Advisory Board, said in other states that have allowed same-sex marriage, people are being "punished if they do not abandon their deeply-held beliefs that marriage is and can only be the union of a man and a woman...wedding professionals have been fined, small businesses have been sued, church groups have lost their tax exemptions and religious-based charities have closed down.''
"Rhode Island risks these types of consequences,'' he said of the latest versions of the bills.