Providence Journal photo / Kathy Borchers
House Speaker Gordon Fox cheers at the end of the speeches on the State House lawn Thursday, just before Governor Chafee signed the Marriage Equality Act into law, making Rhode Island the 10th state in the country to legalize same-sex marriage.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- With the signing of legislation to allow same-sex couples to marry moments away, House Speaker Gordon D. Fox publicly declared his love for Rhode Island, its people and his beloved partner of 15 years, Marcus LaFond.
"I am going to end where this all comes from,'' he said to a gathering of several hundred people. "And that is with my Marcus.''
"This more than anything says to me and to this dear man here, that we matter. And from this day forward...we're not going to be talking about same-sex marriage any longer. We're going to be talking about marriage. Marriage.''
"I would move heaven and earth for you if I could,'' he said to Marcus. "I love you dearly, dearly. You are the love of my life. And to have this law take effect when the governor puts his pen to that paper means we truly do matter and we've never doubted that we mattered but the state now knows we matter.''