Same-sex marriage legislation may be in jeopardy at the Rhode Island State House again this year, despite backing from the governor and the speaker of the House.
There's been talk that maybe lawmakers can walk a middle line and create a civil union statute that would satisfy both sides of the debate, giving gay couples legal rights and protections, and letting the Catholic Church avoid the change that they suggest would redefine marriage.
But NBC 10 News has learned that neither side will accept that compromise.
Martha Holt, of Marriage Equality Rhode Island, said civil unions are not acceptable.
"Absolutely not. Nothing short of marriage equality would satisfy us here," Holt said.
The Catholic Church is just as adamant. Bishop Thomas Tobin put it on the record five years ago in The Catholic newspaper.
"Gay marriages and civil unions are contrary to God's plan, morally objectionable, and an unacceptable substitute for marriage," Tobin wrote on April 20, 2006.
Tobin said he feels civil unions are only a semantic distinction from same-sex marriage, and he will not support either.
Marriage equality backers will not accept civil unions as a substitute for the definition they seek.
"Basic undersanding of family. It carries with it over 1,100 federal privileges and rights. Unless we get that same equality in our marriage, we won't have the same benefit," Holt said.
The Unitarian Church this week come out in favor of same-sex marriage, but the Catholic Church has much greater influence -- both from the pulpit and at the State House where lawmakers will be deciding this issue.
The Catholic Church holds sway over many voters and quite a few lawmakers, and there's a big question whether the same-sex marriage statute so desired by Gov. Lincoln Chafee and House Speaker Gordon Fox will even get a vote on the floor of the House.
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