A Service of Rainbow Law

R.I. Gov. Vetoes Same-Sex Funeral Rights

Written by RainbowZine Thursday, 12 November 2009 06:49

Republican Rhode Island Gov. Don Carcieri vetoed legislation that would give same-sex couples in Rhode Island the same right to plan the funerals of their late partners as married couples.

Carcieri, a Republican, said he rejected the legislation because it would erode heterosexual marriage.

"If the General Assembly believes it would like to address the issue of domestic partnership, it should place the issue on the ballot and let the people of the State of Rhode Island decide," Carcieri said in a letter to lawmakers.

Carcieri, who will be term-limited out of office next year, remains a major obstacle to passing a gay marriage bill in Rhode Island, which lawmakers have considered for the last 12 years. The governor also backs an effort to place a gay marriage ban in the Rhode Island Constitution. And in the spring, he and his wife, Sue, joined the state's newly minted chapter of the National Organization for Marriage, the nation's most vociferous opponent of gay marriage.

 

The bill's sponsors, Sen. Rhoda Perry and Rep. David Segal, said they would seek to override the veto. They proposed the legislation after one of their constituents was unable to retrieve the body of his late partner from the state medical examiner for weeks because they weren't married or next-of-kin.

Gay rights supporters were indignant at the veto.

"It is absolutely unconscionable that Gov. Carcieri would step in the middle of people being able to take care of their loved ones at such a sorrowful time," said Kathy Kushnir, executive director of Marriage Equality Rhode Island, which advocates for gay marriage. "Why would he make it more difficult? I just don't get it."

The proposed funeral planning rights would apply to same-sex couples who have had a relationship for at least one year and pass other tests, such as owning property together. Carcieri said some of the guidelines were vague.