Threesomes Are Fun

They say good things come in threes, so I guess that explains this:

Both Democrats running for governor, Attorney General Patrick Lynch and General Treasurer Frank Caprio, and former Senator Lincoln Chafee, an Independent, publicly pledged to sign a gay marriage bill if elected.

The three men have been invited to make their promise public at a Statehouse rally scheduled for March 3, said Kathy Kushnir, executive director of Marriage Equality Rhode Island. Kushnir also said that said Republican gubernatorial candidate John Robitaille has not returned her calls, although Robitaille says he was never contacted by Kushnir's group. At any rate, like a good Republican he opposes gay marriage but might consider supporting domestic partnerships.

In other words, he's the "Less Than" candidate.

But he's the minority in the race to replace Republican Governor Carcieri, the anti-gay conservative who opposes marriage equality. Carcieri is leaving office after finishing his second term early next year.
"I think that it's really important that the people of Rhode Island understand that this can be a reality here sooner rather than later," Kushnir said. "One of the major obstacles we face right now is a veto from the governor's office, and that would be gone."

You're stepping closer, Rhode Island, and that's good news.

More good news comes to us from Iowa, where legislative Republicans have failed in their attempt to bring up for debate a proposed constitutional amendment that would define marriage as only between one man and one woman.

GOP minority leader Kraig Paulsen invoked a call of the House, which required all representatives not excused for the day to return to the chamber. Paulsen implemented a House rule that would pull House Joint Resolution 6--the ban on gay marriage--from committee and place it on the debate calendar.

The attempt failed on a 45-54 vote.

Majority Leader, and Democrat, Kevin McCarthy said there are too many pressing budget matters for lawmakers to get bogged down in a divisive social issue, but Senate Republicans called the vote an obstruction by the majority party leaders.

What many of these Republicans, who say the law should be placed before the people, aren't hearing, is that the majority of people in Iowa don't consider a same-sex marriage ban to be an important issue; in fact, nearly 92% of those polled say their lives have not been affected at all since marriage equality became law.

And then in New Hampshire, a House committee is recommending against repealing that state's five-week old gay marriage law. And, on the same day, the Judiciary Committee also voted to recommend that the House kill a constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between one man and one woman.

The vote was 12-8 on both measures.

Gay marriage opponents know their chance of success is slim, but they want to keep the issue before voters in hopes Republicans will regain control of the Statehouse from Democrats in November and succeed in legalizing discrimination.

I think three might just be my new lucky number.