Wasting absolutely no time, on their first day back at work, Rhode Island lawmakers overrode Governor Carcieri's veto of a bill to grant funeral decision-making rights to same-sex couples. The House--and then the Senate--voted to override Republican Carcieri's veto of a bill giving domestic partners the right to claim the bodies of--and make funeral arrangements for--their loved ones.
Even concerning issues like death, asshats like Carcieri want to punish the LGBT community. But legislators smacked him in the face with a House vote of 67 to 3 and a Senate vote of 29 to 3.
The bill came from the story of Mark Goldberg, who told Rhode Island lawmakers about his months-long battle last fall to persuade state authorities to release to him for cremation the body of his partner of 17 years, Ron Hanby.
All he wanted to do was to bury his partner, and Carcieri responded by saying, in his veto message, "This bill represents a disturbing trend over the past few years of the incremental erosion of the principles surrounding traditional marriage, which is not the preferred way to approach this issue."
It wasn't about marriage, had nothing to do with marriage, it was about Mark Goldberg wanting to say goodbye to his husband, Ron Hanby, and Carcieri turned it into something ugly.
Goodbye, soon-to-be ex-Governor Carcieri. Don't let the door hit you in the ass on your way out.
It's all mean and cruel but this seems particularly so. Not only is he going to deny legal protections but he seems to want to go out of his way to hurt someone in their darkest hour.
ReplyDeleteYep, that's my governor. He hasn't got a very good legacy left. He'll forever be known, at least among the literate in RI as an asshole.
ReplyDeleteWe've had Republican governors before, Linc Almond was tame. Ed DiPrete, well, it's always disgraceful when a governor is on the take. But Carcieri, he'll wear the asshole tag for the rest of his life, which I hope is nasty, brutish, and short.
Absolutely horrible.
ReplyDeleteBob, this is one of the hardest parts of not having equal protections. What is worst is that many gay couples don't think about this ahead of time, and don't plan to make it as easy as possible for their partner.
There is much legal paperwork you need to do/sign/notarize to help your partner at this time, and neither may not be comfortable with the venerabilities the paperwork leaves, but until we have equal protections under the law GLBT folk need to think long and hard about this. if they don't they set themselves up for even greater heartache, after their beloved partner is gone.
Its nice when truth and fairness prevail!
ReplyDeleteThat is beyond doubt the most inhumane thing you can do to anyone at a time of the greatest possible vulnerability.
ReplyDeleteI'm just so glad that our Civil Partnership covers exactly these issues, I couldn't bear to thimk of Gary being put through this kind of pain