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.
