A cleric says gay people can totally marry — as long as they marry someone of the opposite sex
By Mary Elizabeth Williams
If there’s one thing the Catholic Church is good at, it’s finding loopholes in its own convoluted dogma. These are the people who invented Limbo, after all. So leave it to an enterprising archbishop to find a workaround on marriage equality. If gay men and women want to get hitched, no problem, says Archbishop Oscar Cruz of the Philippines. “I ask this question to myself and I have thought about it for a long time and the answer is ‘yes,’” he declared earlier this week at the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines-National Appellate Matrimonial Tribunal. There’s just one catch.
“May a lesbian marry a gay man?” he told the crowd. “My answer is ‘yes,’ because in that instance the capacity to consummate the union is there. The anatomy is there. The possibility of conception is there.” Apparently in Cruz’s mind, “consummation” is limited strictly to those activities which can result in conception, and conception is good enough to call it a marriage. Cruz went on to to discuss marriage equality, saying, “For the Church, even if you turn it upside down and call it by another name, it would still not be marriage. For the Church, even if a hundred [judges] bless a same-sex wedding, it would still not be effective.” Who needs love or even a like-minded orientation to get the Church’s blessing anyway, when you’ve got straight up anatomy?
But if the Catholic Church can sanction marriage between lesbians and gay men, Cruz also acknowledges it can also retroactively declare that it was never even legitimate in the first place. In the same speech, the Archbishop admitted that homosexuality was valid grounds for annulment, though he added it is rarely invoked. “More often, it’s is about psychological problems,” he said, “meaning there is some kind of mental impairment or emotional disturbance.”
Same-sex marriage is not permitted in Cruz’s mostly Catholic country. And as the Gay News Network reports, two years ago a bill was filed to amend the Philippine Family Code to ban “forbidden marriages.” Sham marriage, however, is still totally fine in the eyes of the country’s Catholic authority. So if you’re a gay person in the Philippines who wants to get hitched, the celibate man in white gown says there’s nothing stopping you. Just don’t try to wed someone you’d want to have an authentic lifetime partnership with.
Gay rights activists have accused the Catholic Church of corruption and manipulating the largely religious public in their fight against equality
By Joe Morgan
Archbishop of Zagreb Josip Bozanić is accused of forcing people to sign a petition against same-sex marriage, encouraging violence, and manipulating children into hating gay people.
The Catholic Church in Croatia is corruptly coercing people to sign a petition against same-sex marriage, Gay Star News can exclusively reveal.
Over 710,000 people have signed the petition – over one fifth of the population of the Eastern European country – demanding the government change the constitution to say marriage is defined as between a man and a woman.
But gay rights activists have accused the Catholic Church of immorally manipulating the public into signing their names to oppose same-sex marriage and also of encouraging violence.
If a straight couple wants to be married in a church, or have their child baptized or attend a Catholic school, in many places they are being told they must sign the petition demanding a referendum to ban same-sex marriage in Croatia.
As over 85% of people are Catholic, the religion is deeply embedded in the Croatian culture.
Marko Jurčić, anti-discrimination coordinator for Zagreb Pride, spoke exclusively to Gay Star News about how the Catholic Church is using a ‘fear of change’ to take away human rights.
As Croatia readies itself to join the European Union on 1 July, there have been protests fearing the country will lose its identity like when it was part of Yugoslavia.
Jurčić believes it started when the Social Democratic Party of Croatia, the largest central-left party, took power in 2011.
When the party revealed their plans for unions for gay couples – ‘life partnerships’ – as well as sex education in schools and artificial insemination for single women, the Catholic Church struck back.
Josip Bozanić, the Archbishop of Zagreb, declared ‘war’ against the ‘radical liberalization’ of Croatia.
He successfully got the Constitutional Court to rule children should not be taught sex education in schools, saying it was a ‘violation of parent’s rights’.
Campaign group In the Name of the Family was set up to combat same-sex marriage.
Around 6,000 volunteers have been gathering signatures in over 2,000 locations in the last month. They have denied having backing from the Catholic Church.
Jurčić said it was not the first time a religious ‘war’ against LGBT equality has happened in Europe.
‘It started in France, and [the Catholic Church] lost there. Imagine what is happening east of Croatia!
‘It’s a new war they’re creating. One side is secular, the other religious.’
Jurčić described, after this happened, how there was an increase in hate crime as there were homophobic ‘signs and billboards and places to sign [the anti-gay] petition everywhere.’
He said: ‘People have been recognized by their gender expression or their sexuality and been beaten up. It’s a horrific atmosphere.
‘It has happened especially in Zagreb as there is a growing scene there. A lot of LGBT people have come to the capital looking for a haven, but they have been met with vicious attacks.’
He also alleged the Catholics started religious classes for children to teach them to hate gay, bi and trans people.
Jurčić said he was ‘furious’ by the treatment to the LGBT community especially as there were improvements in the last decade.
‘We’re not afraid. We have experienced a lot of change in this country since 2002, and we are all a part of the movement.
‘We changed the face of this country. It’s frustrating, it’s empowering how people have come out, how many public figures have supported us.’
The anti-gay petition will be handed to the Croatian government on Friday (14 June), a day before Zagreb Pride.
Zoran Milanovic, Croatia’s social democrat prime minister, has admitted there ‘probably ought to be referendum, provided all the preconditions are met.’
To amend the constitution, there must be a parliamentary majority of two thirds.
Jurčić hopes Saturday’s Pride will be an antidote, a breath of fresh air against the Catholic Church’s corruption.
‘Our role is to empower LGBT people who are being threatened in the hostile environment,’ he said. ‘We will continue to empower them, but the problem is the damage has already been done.’
When contacted by Gay Star News, the Croatian Catholic Church chose not to comment.
Written by: Hector Avalos, Robert R. Cargill and Kenneth Atkinson.
The debate about marriage equality often centers, however discretely, on an appeal to the Bible. Unfortunately, such appeals often reflect a lack of biblical literacy on the part of those who use that complex collection of texts as an authority to enact modern social policy.
As academic biblical scholars, we wish to clarify that the biblical texts do not support the frequent claim that marriage between one man and one woman is the only type of marriage deemed acceptable by the Bible’s authors.
The fact that marriage is not defined as only that between one man and one woman is reflected in the entry on “marriage” in the authoritative Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000): “Marriage is one expression of kinship family patterns in which typically a man and at least one woman cohabitate publicly and permanently as a basic social unit” (p. 861).
The phrase “at least one woman” recognizes that polygamy was not only allowed, but some polygamous biblical figures (e.g., Abraham, Jacob) were highly blessed. In 2 Samuel 12:8, the author says that it was God who gave David multiple wives: “I gave you your master’s house, and your master’s wives into your bosom. … And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more” (Revised Standard Version).
In fact, there were a variety of unions and family configurations that were permissible in the cultures that produced the Bible, and these ranged from monogamy (Titus 1:6) to those where rape victims were forced to marry their rapist (Deuteronomy 22:28-29) and to those Levirate marriage commands obligating a man to marry his brother’s widow regardless of the living brother’s marital status (Deuteronomy 25:5-10; Genesis 38; Ruth 2-4). Others insisted that celibacy was the preferred option (1 Corinthians 7:8; 28).
Although some may view Jesus’ interpretation of Genesis 2:24 in Matthew 19:3-10 as an endorsement of monogamy, Jesus and other Jewish interpreters conceded that there were also non-monogamous understandings of this passage in ancient Judaism, including those allowing divorce and remarriage.
In fact, during a discussion of marriage in Matthew 19:12, Jesus even encourages those who can to castrate themselves “for the kingdom” and live a life of celibacy.
Ezra 10:2-11 forbids interracial marriage and orders those people of God who already had foreign wives to divorce them immediately.
So, while it is not accurate to state that biblical texts would allow marriages between people of the same sex, it is equally incorrect to declare that a “one-man-and-one-woman” marriage is the only allowable type of marriage deemed legitimate in biblical texts.
This is not only our modern, academic opinion. This view of the multiple definitions of “biblical” marriage has been acknowledged by some of the most prominent names in Christianity. For example, the famed Reformationist Martin Luther wrote a letter in 1524 in which he commented on polygamy as follows: “I confess that I cannot forbid a person to marry several wives, for it does not oppose the Holy Scriptures.”
Accordingly, we must guard against attempting to use ancient texts to regulate modern ethics and morals, especially those ancient texts whose endorsements of other social institutions, such as slavery, would be universally condemned today, even by the most adherent of Christians.
In 2011, a slender book came out called Hidden Voices: Reflections of a Gay, Catholic Priest. The author was “Anonymous.”
“This book is for all of those who are being or have been driven away,” reads the introduction. “And that’s not just the gay population; it’s all of those who have accepted a member of their family, all of those who have allied as friends. They too have been silenced and shamed, ostracized by a Church teaching and hierarchal positioning that will not allow us to support, love, nurture and foster positive gay relationships in our Church.”
Earlier this week, Father Gary Meier, most recently of Saints Teresa & Bridget Parish in north St. Louis, revealed that he is the author. Although he says he was never truly “in the closet,” the announcement is a form of coming out.
“I know in my heart and my gut I need to stand in solidarity with those who’re being fired from their jobs, denied sacrament, excommunicated,” he tells Daily RFT.
Meier says that the church’s views on homosexuality were very different in the ’90s when he was in seminary. He says it was always known to his teachers, if not explicitly stated, that he is gay, and that so long as he was celibate, his orientation wasn’t seen as a problem. That changed when the pedophilia scandal broke in 2002.
“In 2005 they come with this hard stance of, ‘We’re not going to ordain gay priests,’” he says. “I was thinking I could try to find a way to reconcile my personal beliefs about being gay and what an incredible gift it is, not a cross, not an intrisic disorder…it was unsuccessful.”
He became frustrated enough to write Hidden Voices, then took a leave of absence in 2012 to earn his masters of counseling at University of Missouri-St. Louis. Finally, he resolved to stand behind his words in the book with his real name.
Here is what he posted to his personal website and to his Facebook page on Wednesday evening:
Announcement….
On May 23, 2013, I will be celebrating my 15 year anniversary to the priesthood. On the eve of this anniversary, I am releasing the 2nd edition of my book “Hidden Voices, Reflections of a Gay, Catholic Priest” which was originally published in 2011 anonymously. The second edition, now available, has one main difference – it is no longer anonymous. The decision to release the book under my name was not an easy one to make but one I felt was necessary.
It has been difficult to remain part of a hierarchy that has been so hostile towards homosexuals in recent years. This is especially true considering nearly 30% of all successful teenage suicides are attributed to sexual identity issues. Our church once stood for and represented the radical nature of God’s love for all people. That is not the true today – especially towards the LGBT community and therefore I feel compelled to stand in solidarity with those Catholic’s who have lost their jobs, have been denied the sacraments, have been excommunicated or who have been made to feel ‘less than’ by their church leaders because of who they love.
I am not sure where exactly any of this will lead. It is a huge leap of faith and to be perfectly honest with you, very frightening. I know that while many will celebrate and be grateful for this publication, others will be angry and upset and feel as if I am betraying the church. I have no such intention. I am just a man trying to live a life of integrity and speak the truth that God has given me to speak. I do not mean the church any harm and in fact I still love the church very much. I see my speaking out as an act of love toward a community which was born of God’s radical inclusivity. Somehow we have lost that in our church, I would like us to get that back.
It is my hope that you will take a moment to read my book with an open mind and heart and see this as an opportunity to love, support and welcome all people regardless of their sexual orientation. In the meantime please know that I will be praying for you and our church and ask for your prayers as well. In addition, please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments – I will look forward to hearing from you.
Meier says he also sent a copy of his book and a letter revealing himself as the author to the archbishop this week.
“Of course, the biggest obstacle is fear. The fear of the backlash, the loss of faculties, loss of income, loss of social status,” says Meier. “I don’t know what their response will be…whether the diocese takes away my faculties or not, I’m not going to use them.”
Here’s the statement from the Archdiocese of St. Louis in response to Father Meier’s news:
The Archdiocese of St. Louis just learned that Fr. Gary Meier authored the book “Hidden Voices, Reflections of a Gay, Catholic Priest” which was originally released anonymously in 2011. On May 22, 2013, Fr. Meier will release a 2nd edition of this book under his name.
Fr. Meier has been on leave for the past year for reasons of vocational discernment.
As a man who experiences same-sex attraction, Fr. Meier has before him an opportunity to be an example and mentor to Catholics in the archdiocese who struggle with the same feelings. Whether he will seize this opportunity to proclaim the Gospel of Life which offers the truth about the beauty and sanctity of human sexuality, is entirely within is his control.
The Church does not condemn individuals for having same-sex attraction. It teaches that all people are called to responsibility regarding sexuality — whether they are homosexual or heterosexual, priest or lay person.
Our Catholic faith teaches that we are defined by something far deeper than sexual orientation; rather we are defined by our identity as children of God. We agree with Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI when he said, ‘Every human being is loved by God the Father. No one need feel forgotten, for every name is written in the Lord’s loving heart.’ We encourage Catholics and all people of faith to pray for our culture.
As to whether or not Meier will ever be allowed to have a parish again, a spokeswoman for the Archdiocese says “there is no comment at this time with regard to Fr. Meier’s future.”
Even Meier himself doesn’t have much comment on his future — he’s not sure if he’ll attempt to continue being a priest or if he’ll enter a more secular existence. But he doesn’t regret his time so far as a man of the cloth.
“I have no doubt I was called into the priesthood,” he says. “Pretty amazing stuff has happened with God working through me.”
Meier is having a second book launch and discussion at UMSL on Tuesday.
Minnesotans Cheer As Governor Mark Dayton Signs Marriage Equality Bill Into Law
It’s official, y’all!
Following a 37-30 vote in the Minnesota Senate yesterday, the bill that would soon make Minnesota the 12th state to legalize same-sex marriage was officially headed to it’s final destination: the desk of Governor Mark Dayton.
Dayton, a longtime supporter of marriage equality, made a celebration of the landmark event by holding a signing ceremony on the south steps of the Capitol just moments ago.
“What a day for Minnesota, and what a difference a year and election can make in our states,” Dayton told the cheering crowd before he signed the bill. “Last year there were concerns that marriage equality would be banned here forever. Now my signature will make it legal in two and a half months.”
Dayton’s signature on the bill will make Minnesota the first Midwestern state to legalize same-sex marriage by legislative vote, and the third state within the last month, following victories in Rhode Island and Delaware.
Now that the bill has been signed into law, it will take effect on August 1. Something tells us Minnesota’s ministers are in for a fabulous fourth quarter!
The “full social and legal effects” of state lawmakers’ decision to legalize same-sex marriage “will begin to manifest themselves in the years ahead,” said the Minnesota Catholic Conference.
“Today the Minnesota Senate voted to redefine marriage in Minnesota. The outcome, though expected, is no less disappointing,” the conference said in a statement.
Say, I don’t look like i have a same-sex attraction, do I?
The state Senate in a 37-30 vote gave final approval Monday to a same-sex marriage bill. The state House passed the measure May 9. Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton signed it Tuesday.
The law is to take effect Aug. 1, making Minnesota the 12th state to allow same-sex couples to marry. Earlier in May, Rhode Island and Delaware became the 10th and 11th states, respectively, to legalize same-sex marriage.
“The church, for its part, will continue to work to rebuild a healthy culture of marriage and family life, as well as defend the rights of Minnesotans to live out their faith in everyday life and speak the truth in love,” said the Minnesota Catholic Conference, the public policy arm of the state’s bishops.
“Some wish to believe that sexual relationships outside of the marital context of husband and wife are innocuous, choosing to ignore the fact that they are actually harmful to individuals and to society as a whole,” said Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage.
“There are many of us Americans, including many Minnesotans, who stand for the natural and true meaning of marriage,” he said in a statement released Tuesday. “They know that men and women are important; their complementary difference matters, their union matters, and it matters to kids. Mothers and fathers are simply irreplaceable.”
Cordileone called it “the height of irony” that the final vote on “the redefinition of marriage” and the governor’s signature on the bill occurred just a day “after we celebrated the unique gifts of mothers and women on Mother’s Day.”
In November, Minnesota voters rejected a ballot measure to amend the state constitution to define marriage as only a union between a man and woman, but polls show Minnesotans remained sharply divided over legalizing such unions. According to Minnesota Public Radio, a recent survey showed a majority are against same-sex marriage.
The measure changes the definition of marriage from “between a man and a woman” to “a civil contract between two persons.” A prohibition against marriage between relatives, such as first cousins, remained in place.
In a statement about the earlier House vote, the conference said lawmakers by approving same-sex marriage “set in motion a transformation of Minnesota law that will focus on accommodating the desires of adults instead of protecting the best interest of children.”
“This action is an injustice that tears at the fabric of society and will be remembered as such well into the future,” it said.
The Catholic conference said the bill posed “a serious threat to the religious liberty and conscience rights of Minnesotans.”
It includes legal protections for clergy and religious groups that don’t want to marry same-sex couples, but the conference said lawmakers failed “to protect the people in the pew — individuals, non-religious nonprofits, and small business owners who maintain the time-honored belief that marriage is a union of one man and one woman.”
According to the conference, lawyers on both sides of the issue have stated that no accommodations for “the deeply held beliefs of a majority of Minnesotans will result in numerous conflicts that will have to be adjudicated by our courts.”
In a separate statement issued after the House vote, Duluth Bishop Paul Sirba said the church “will continue to uphold and propose to the world what we know, through sound reason and through divine revelation, to be the authentic nature of marriage: a permanent union between one man and one woman, uniting a mother and a father with any children produced by their union.”
No civil authority, he said, “has the authority or competence to redefine marriage. Civil authorities have the obligation to protect and defend true marriage for the sake of justice and the common good.”
Sirba acknowledged that many disagree with the church’s stand on the issue and expressed dismay over the negative tone the debate over same-sex marriage has taken toward the church.
“We are particularly mindful of our brothers and sisters who have same-sex attractions,” he said.
(Have you ever noticed how our fearless leaders can’t and won’t use the word gay? We use it to self-define, but they want to define us for us, using the euphemism — our brothers and sisters who have same-sex attractions. It’s like if our same sex attraction is an add-on, the likes of which they want us to pray away, if we don’t mind.)
“Our hearts break that this debate has often been used as an occasion to sow mistrust and doubt, as if followers of the God who is love, and whose love for all people we proclaim each day as the body of Christ, are acting instead out of some sort of ill will.”
“To all those with same-sex attraction, we continue to extend our unconditional love and respect. For those who have heard God’s call and respond in faith, hope and love, striving to walk in his ways, we also offer our pastoral support,” the bishop added.
In Rhode Island May 2, Gov. Lincoln Chafee signed into law a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in that state. Bishop Thomas Tobin of Providence expressed “profound disappointment” that the measure to “legitimize same-sex marriage” passed the Legislature.
In an open letter to the state’s Catholics, he said the Catholic church has fought very hard to “oppose this immoral and unnecessary proposition,” and that God would be the final arbiter of people’s actions.
Same-sex marriage became legal May 7 in Delaware; the law goes into effect July 1.
In an April 15 letter to Delaware legislators, Bishop W. Francis Malooly of Wilmington said marriage “is a unique relationship between a man and a woman” and it’s not the government’s place to “define or redefine” it.
A divided Delaware state Senate voted Tuesday to make their state the 11th in the nation to allow same-sex marriage, after hearing hours of passionate testimony from supporters and opponents.
The Senate’s 12-9 vote sends the bill to Democratic Gov. Jack Markell, who supports the measure and planned to sign it later in the day. It would go into effect July 1.
“I think this is the right thing for Delaware,” the governor said after the vote, while posing for pictures with supporters outside his legislative office. “It took an incredible team effort.”
Gay rights activists and their supporters in the chamber erupted in cheers and applause following the Senate vote.
Delaware’s same-sex marriage bill was introduced in the Democrat-controlled legislature last month, barely a year after the state began recognizing same-sex civil unions. The bill won passage two weeks ago in the state House on a 23-18 vote.
While it doesn’t give same-sex couples any more rights or benefits under Delaware law than those they have in civil unions, supporters argued same-sex couples deserve the dignity and respect of married couples. They also noted that if the U.S. Supreme Court strikes down the Defense of Marriage Act, which bars married gay couples from receiving federal benefits, civil unions would not provide protections or tax benefits under federal law to same-sex couples in Delaware.
Opponents, including scores of conservative religious leaders from across the state, argued same-sex marriage redefines and destroys a centuries-old institution that is a building block of society.
Under the bill, no new civil unions will be performed in Delaware after July 1, and existing civil unions will be converted to marriages over the next year. The legislation also states that same-sex unions established in other states will be treated the same as marriages under Delaware law.
The bill does not force clerics to perform same-sex marriages that conflict with their religious beliefs. But under an existing Delaware law banning discrimination based on sexual orientation, business owners who refuse to provide marriage-related services to same-sex couples for reasons of conscience could be subject to discrimination claims.
Delaware joins neighboring Maryland and the nearby District of Columbia as jurisdictions that have approved gay marriage. Last week, Rhode Island became the 10th state to allow gay and lesbian couples to wed, with independent Gov. Lincoln Chafee signing the bill an hour after its final passage.
File under: Sour Grapes. Really, Bishop? It’s God who looks unfavorably upon marriage equality? Really? Remember when pious Catholics were warned not to attend marriages between a man and a woman but were held in non-Catholic settings? Was God pissed off at that too back then? I guess he got over it, huh? You shameless fraud!
By Eric W. Dolan
Bishop of Providence Thomas Tobin, the Roman Catholic leader of Rhode Island, on Thursday warned Catholics that God looked unfavorably upon those who attended same-sex weddings.
In a letter published as Rhode Island was poised to become the tenth state to embrace marriage equality, Tobin wrote that Catholics should have “respect, love and pastoral concern” for LGBT individuals.
But that didn’t mean Catholics should accept their relationships or attend their wedding ceremonies.
“At this moment of cultural change, it is important to affirm the teaching of the Church, based on God’s word, that ‘homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered,’ (Catechism of the Catholic Church, #2357) and always sinful,” Tobin explained.
“And because ‘same-sex marriages’ are clearly contrary to God’s plan for the human family, and therefore objectively sinful, Catholics should examine their consciences very carefully before deciding whether or not to endorse same-sex relationships or attend same-sex ceremonies, realizing that to do so might harm their relationship with God and cause significant scandal to others.”
On the subject of same-sex marriage, New England is now united.
Rhode Island became the 10th U.S. state and final one in the region to legalize gay weddings today, after its House of Representatives approved a bill expanding marriage rights to homosexuals. Governor Lincoln Chafee, a 60-year-old independent, had lobbied for the measure since taking office in 2011 and planned to sign it immediately.
“New England is now complete,” Marc Solomon, national campaign director at Freedom to Marry, a New York-based group that helps and funds local gay-rights organizations, said by telephone. “We have an entire region of the country that has approved the freedom to marry.”
Rhode Island’s law will take effect Aug. 1. In addition to the five other New England states — Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut and Massachusetts — Washington, Iowa, New York, Maryland and the District of Columbia allow same-sex couples to marry. Delaware, Illinois and Minnesota may all approve similar measures by May 31, Solomon said.
Chafee had pitched the measure as a way to spur economic development. He tentatively scheduled a bill signing ceremony for 5:45 p.m. local time, according to his office.
The law will make Rhode Island “a place that is welcoming to the younger generation, the creative generation, entrepreneurs,” he said in an interview at Bloomberg News headquarters in New York this week.
No Surprise
Frank Schubert, national political director for the National Organization for Marriage, a Washington-based group that fights same-sex marriage legislation around the country, said the loss for his side wasn’t a surprise.
“It is a heavily Catholic state, which is what helped us hold same-sex marriage off for so long,” Schubert said by e- mail. “It is also one of the most Democratic states in the country.”
Rhode Island’s House, led by Representative Gordon D. Fox, a Democrat and the country’s first openly gay House speaker, first passed a same-sex marriage measure by 51 to 19 in January. On April 24, the Senate approved a modified version by 26 to 12 that expanded protections for religious organizations. That change prompted today’s vote, which was largely procedural. It passed, 56 to 15.
All five Republicans in the 38-member Senate endorsed the proposal, marking the first time that a state Republican legislative caucus has unanimously done so, they said.
Generational Shift
“We recognize that there is a national consensus building on this generational issue, and we are glad that support for the freedom to marry is growing within the Republican Party,” the caucus said in a statement last week.
Two years ago, Rhode Island’s legislature pulled back a gay-marriage bill and instead approved civil unions. The state has granted fewer than 100 of them since, according to the Health Department. Rhode Islanders United for Marriage, a local gay-rights group, has said the low rate stems partly from the state’s proximity to others where gay marriage is already legal.
Last May, Chafee signed an executive order recognizing same-sex marriages performed out of state.
