QUEER QUOTE: Openly Gay Speaker Of RI House Resigns Post After FBI Raid

The openly gay, multiracial Speaker of the Rhode Island House of Representatives announced in a written statement that he would be resigning his leadership position and would not seek re-election this year, following a raid of his home and office by federal law enforcement officials. The Speaker brokered a controversial civil unions compromise in 2011 and is currently one of five people who are openly LGBT and head a state legislative chamber in the United States.

The New York Times reports:

Agents from the F.B.I., the Internal Revenue Service, the United States attorney’s office and the state police conducted the searches. 

Mr. Fox, 52, was first elected to the state House of Representatives in 1992 and had been speaker since February 2010. He had said he planned to stand for re-election this fall and hoped to keep his position as speaker. 

Mr. Fox, who is gay, was instrumental in pushing through the legislation last May that legalized same-sex marriage in Rhode Island. And at the bill signing ceremony on the steps of the State House he spoke emotionally about his relationship with his longtime partner, Marcus LaFond. 

The couple were married last year in Mr. Fox’s legislative office. 

Mr. Fox said Saturday that he planned to complete the rest of his two-year term, which ends in December.

Fox's resignation letter is today's Queer Quote:

“The Rhode Island House of Representatives is an institution that I deeply respect and serving my constituents has been a major part of my life for the past 22 years. I will not let yesterday’s events distract my colleagues from addressing the challenges facing Rhode Island.”  

“Because of the respect I have for all members of the House of Representatives, I am resigning as Speaker. The process of governing must continue and the transition of leadership must be conducted in an orderly manner.”   

“I want to thank my colleagues and loyal staff for all that we were able to accomplish together. I will continue to serve out the remainder of my term and represent my neighbors and constituents in District 4. That said, I do not intend to seek another term in the House.”

“My personal focus going forward will be on my family and dealing with the investigation. Because of the nature of this matter, I will not be commenting further.” 

I'm sad that it looks like this openly gay man's political career is over.

Rhode Island Senate Passes Marriage Equality 26-12!

Excellent news! The Rhode Island Senate has just passed a marriage equality bill by a vote of 26-12, ensuring that the Ocean State will become the 10th state in the United States of America to have marriage equality. The State House had passed the measure 51-19 way back in January, and will have to reconcile the slightly different language "protecting religious liberties" in the Senate-passed version from the bill that passed the House. Openly gay Soeaker of the House Gordon Fox says that will probably happen next Thursday on May 2, and Governor Lincoln Chaffee has promised to sign the bill into law.

Senate President Theresa Paiva Reed allowed a vote on the measure (Senate Bill 0038 A) even though she personally opposed marriage equality and in 2011 she had used her position to prevent a House-passed marriage equality bill from becoming law.

Illinois and Delaware still have marriage equality bills pending which have passed one house of the legislature in each state.

R.I. House Passes Marriage Equality Bill 51-19!

Courtesy Rex Wockner

Rhode Island made another significant step towards joining its neighboring states in enacting marriage equality today by passing HB 1505 by a vote of 51-19.

The Providence Journal reports:

After House Speaker Gordon D. Fox announced the vote, members rose to their feet in a prolonged standing ovation. 

The vote followed a debate that lasted roughly an hour and a half, with supporters and opponents giving often impassioned, emotional speeches explaining their positions. 

Until Tuesday, the issue -- introduced annually for the last 11 years -- had never made it beyond committee hearings. 

This year, the outcome in the House was never really in doubt, with Speaker Fox signed on as the lead cosponsor and 42 of 75 members signed on as supporters. 

Now the bill goes to the Senate, where there is more opposition and leaders say it may sit for weeks or even months before a hearing is held.

This is just the first of many states that will likely make progress towards marriage equality in 2013. I'd really love to hear what the objections to marriage equality are in Rhode Island since most people simply reject the heterosexual supremacists common "arguments." How long can people say that "marriage is between a man and a woman" when there are nearly 10 states and hundreds of thousands of legally married same-sex couples in the United States?

Rhode Island Marriage Equality Bill Clears 1st Hurdle

Rhode Island (along with Illinois and Delaware) is a state which is likely to make some significant progress towards enacting marriage equality in 2013. The openly gay Speaker of the House Gordon Fox has promised to make passing a bill to enact marriage equality in Rhode Island a priority in the current session, and today a House legislative committee unanimously advanced  HB 5015 for  a vote of the full House on Thursday January 24th.

The Governor also supports marriage equality and the President of the State Senate has promised to allow a vote in her body on the legislation, even though she personally does not support equal treatment for same-sex couples under the law.

Interestingly, a dozen years ago, a Rhode Island legislative committee considered a marriage equality bill and the vote was 19-1 against, with the lone affirmative vote being cast by now Congressman David Cicilline, who was an openly gay state legislator at the time.

Hat/tip to Joe.My.God

Saturday Politics: 5 State Houses Have LGBT Heads

Tina Kotek, 46, will become the first lesbian to head a
 state legislative body in the United States

As a result of the elections in blue states in which Democrats made significant gains, opportunities have opened up for openly LGBT people in state legislatures to assume historic leaderships positions. Before the election, Gordon Fox of Rhode Island and John Perez of California were the only openly LGBT heads of state legislative bodies.

Since then Mark Ferrandino of Colorado, Tina Kotek of Oregon and Ed Murray of Washington have all been selected by their peers to lead the respective caucuses of their state legislative bodies. Ferrandino was selected to become the first openly gay Speaker of the Colorado House, Murray was selected to become the first openly gay Majority Leader of the Washington State Senate and Kotek became the first lesbian to head a legislative body, the Oregon house.

Local television station KATU reports:

Kotek said she didn't set out to break barriers but is honored to represent the gay community. It's important for the gay community to have role models in leadership positions, she said.

"We all look for people out there who look like us," she said.

"I have had emails and text messages from people who are very excited," Kotek said. "I think any time you have a 'first' it's an important thing for the community."

Kotek has represented a liberal district in the heart of Portland since 2007. She became the No. 2 leader in the Oregon House in 2011 after convincing her Democratic colleagues to oust her predecessor following a legislative session that left many of them frustrated by Republican successes. She oversaw campaign efforts that helped her party pick up four House seats and grab the majority last week.

Kotek ran unopposed for speaker, and her colleagues selected her for the job in a closed-door meeting Thursday evening. She won't formally take over as speaker until the new Legislature convenes in January.

"Now the real work begins," Kotek said in a statement after the vote. "Oregon continues to face many serious challenges, and the public is counting on us to tackle them head on." 

More LGBT history made in 2012!

Rhode Island May Get 2013 Marriage Equality Vote

Openly gay (and Black) Speaker of the Rhode Island State House Gordon Fox who angered marriage equality activists last year by throwing his support behind civil unions legislation after concluding marriage equality could not pass his legislative body has announced that if he is Speaker next year he will push a marriage equality bill. The civil unions bill overwhelmingly passed both houses of the legislature last year and was signed reluctantly into law by Independent Governor Lincoln Chaffee. Since then, Chaffee has issued an executive order declaring that all state agencies should recognize same-sex marriages that have occurred in other jurisdictions where the practice is legal.

The Advocate reports on Speaker Fox's change in position on marriage equality legislation:

"I'm calling the vote," he said. "It's one of those issues that I need to come back, we need to address, and I intend if I'm elected speaker to address it early." 

Last year, Fox decided not to hold the vote on marriage equality legislation although advocates believed there were enough votes to pass the measure in the Democratic-controlled chamber. Instead, Rhode Island lawmakers passed a civil unions bill that has been criticized because of its broad religious exemptions.  

Fox, who is seeking reelection this November, also said in the interview, "It's one of the main reasons I'm coming back. There's unfinished business."

Just because the bill passes the State House does not mean it will become law because the Democrats head of the State Senate Teresa Paiva-Weed oppose marriage equality and supported the civil unions "compromise" last year. The Rhode Island civil unions law has been widely viewed as a public policy failure, since all of Rhode Island's neighboring states have marriage equality and there is no state law banning recognition of same-sex marriages. The broad religious exemption in the civil unions law means that Rhode Island couples in civil unions would actually have less rights and a greater likelihood of being discriminated against than couples who are married in a different state and reside in Rhode Island.

Anyway, after state marriage laws in Maryland, Washington, and Maine are resolved this November it looks like Rhode Island and Illinois will have opportunities to move toward marriage equality as well next year.

Now There Are 4: GA Black Gay State Rep Comes Out

Georgia State Representative Rashad Taylor,
comes out at a press conference May 27, 2011

There are now four openly gay, African-American male state elected representatives nationwide. Previously known were Marcus Brandon of North Carolina, Gordon Fox of Rhode Island and Jason Bartlett of Connecticut. State Representative Rashad Taylor of Georgia joined these three on Friday by coming out as gay at a press conference in Atlanta on Friday.

Taylor, 30, came out in order to respond to and refute charges of improper conduct which had been emailed to various state legislators from a jealous former lover of Rashad's current boyfriend. You can watch video of the press conference here.

Georgia Voice reports:

According to the national Victory Fund which works to elect openly gay officials, Taylor is only the sixth openly black LGBT person to serve in a state legislature. State Rep. Bell was the first black lesbian elected to a state legislature in 2009. 

Yesterday and in days prior, a man who is the ex-boyfriend of Taylor's partner sent an email to state legislators outing him and alleging Taylor misused his office by promising men jobs in exchange for sex. Taylor denied those allegations today, but did say the truth is is he is gay. 

"For some it may take two days, for some it take two years or 20 years [to come out]," he said.  

"I serve in public office and try to retain some semblance of a private life. This is a journey I've been on," he said. "i wouldn't want to expedite anyone else's journey. It ought to be a personal decision."

Taylor admitted that if the allegations against him had not been made he would not have come out.

"I would not be standing here today," he said, adding he considered ignoring the allegations.

But now was the time to tell the truth, Taylor added.

"I felt like honestly this was it unless I spoke the truth," Taylor said, saying he didn't want someone to feel like they had something "over his head."

He said before today, he could "count on one hand" the people who knew he was gay. Taylor also said that he came out to his mother and family in the past 24 hours. He thanked his mother for his support and she hugged him warmly after he spoke to the media.

MadProfessah has previously blogged about Simone Bell's election as the first Black lesbian state representative in December 2009. In Maryland, Mary Washington is the other openly lesbian elected state representative in the country. There are 6 openly LGBT, Black elected representatives nationwide.


Hat/tip to Wonder Man.

RI State House Overwhelmingly Passes Civil Unions Bill 62-11

The lower House of the Rhode Island legislature approved a civil unions bill by a lopsided vote of 62-11 over the objections of several LGBT activists who had hoped that open;y gay Speaker Gordon Fox would be able to shepherd a marriage equality bill through his chamber but he announced late last month that there were not the votes this year to enact such a bill and that he would support civil unions instead.

Gay marriage advocates tried unsuccessfully to resurrect the gay marriage legislation during House debate. But their procedural move failed after House Speaker Gordon Fox, who is openly gay, ruled it out of order. A vote to overrule Fox failed 23-47.

Rhode Islanders opposed to civil unions gathered outside the House chamber during the two-hour debate to pray and sing religious songs. Rev. Santos Escobar, a pastor at Cranston's Abundant Life Church, said lawmakers were defying public opinion.

"They have ignored us," he said. "But we will remember how they voted in the next election."

Critics in the House warned that civil unions would prompt legal challenges designed to legalize gay marriage. Rep. Arthur Corvese, D-North Providence said civil unions were indistinguishable from marriage, and threated a "fundamental building block of society."

"If the founding fathers were alive today they would be rolling over in their graves," he said.

Opponents of civil unions proposed asking voters to weigh in on civil unions. Their request was rejected.

The debate was at times emotional, with lawmakers clashing over political pragmatism, Constitutional rights and personal stories. Rep. Michael Chippendale, R-Foster, voted against the bill in the House Judiciary Committee. But Thursday night he told his colleagues compassion made him change his mind.

"I'm a Republican. I'm a conservative. I was a no vote," he said. "If my lord Jesus Christ was here, he would say, what you do to the least of my people you do to me... I don't have that right."

The debate now moves to the Senate, which had been seen as unlikely to support gay marriage. Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed, D-Newport, has opposed gay marriage but supports the civil union bill and predicts it will win broad support.

A recent poll in Rhode Island showed nearly 60 percent support for marriage equality. Rhode Island and Maine are the only states in New England which do not have marriage equality. I support moving forward with civil unions legislation but also think that Speaker Fox should also allow a bill on marriage equality as well.

Rhode Island Trying Civil Unions "Compromise" Over Marriage Equality

Rhode Island has long been on the list of states marriage equality activists think will  likely be the next to enact marriage equality (which includes Maryland, Minnesota and New York). However, in Maryland marriage equality legislation recently died, and in Minnesota the 2010 election gave Republicans control of the legislature, which they are using to try to put a constitutional amendment prohibiting marriage equality on the 2012 ballot.

This week, openly gay (and multiracial)  Rhode Island House Speaker Gordon Fox announced that he would try to pass a civil unions bill because he felt that marriage equality legislation could not pass both houses of the legislature.

Both Marriage Equality Rhode Island and Freedom To Marry (predictably) sent out press releases denouncing the move.

Marriage Equality Rhode Island:

The Marriage Equality Rhode Island (MERI) board of directors issued a statement expressing staunch opposition to civil unions now being supported by Speaker Gordon Fox and restated their support for full marriage equality for same-sex couples in Rhode Island.

“Civil unions are unacceptable because they marginalize gay and lesbian couples in very significant ways. The General Assembly will essentially be legalizing a two-class system that subjects thousands of Rhode Island same-sex couples to discrimination. We cannot support legislation that establishes a second class of citizens in Rhode Island,” said Martha Holt, chair of MERI’s board of directors.

Freedom To Marry:

“Rhode Island House Speaker Gordon Fox has made a serious miscalculation.  With support for the freedom to marry topping 60 percent—higher than in any other state in the country—and with a strongly supportive governor, the Rhode Island House should send a marriage bill—and nothing less—to the Senate now.  Couples who are doing the work of marriage in their day-to-day lives, who have made a commitment in life, deserve to have an equal commitment under the law.  That legal commitment is called marriage.  Freedom to Marry is prepared to join with Speaker Fox, advocates on the ground, and a super-majority of Rhode Islanders to make the strongest case to the Senate. 

“Civil union is a separate and unequal half-step that has proven to be terribly inadequate in practice.  That’s why every New England state that started with civil union—Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Vermont—has moved to marriage.  It is also why the official New Jersey Civil Union Review Commission found that “the separate categorization established by the Civil Union Act invites and encourages unequal treatment of same-sex couples and their children.

Although I am a strong supporter of marriage equality, I disagree with MERI and Freedom To Marry here and support Gordon Fox's actions. I believe it is better to enact legislatively what you can right now to protect same-sex couples and their families, while at the same time acknowledging that you are interested in passing marriage equality in the future. Just recently, Hawaii and Illinois have done exactly that earlier this year, with Colorado coming one vote short of joining them in enacting civil unions. In Maryland, marriage equality advocates refused to support a civil unions bill and were rewarded with passage of a bill in one legislative house and bitter recriminations. New York is also only going for marriage equality. Interestingly, in New York and Maryland if you are married someplace else those states will recognize those unions under state law, so maybe the pressure is off for same-sex couples who really need the protections of marriage.

Rhode Island should be an interesting place next week. Both heterosexual supremacists and marriage equality activists will be opposed to civil unions legislations. Presumably, Governor Lincoln Chafee will sign it into law if it reaches his desk, just like he said he would a marriage equality bill.

The Providence Journal reports about the reaction to Speaker Fox's action:

Fox, in an emotional appeal to gay marriage advocates protesting outside his State House office, said his decision to support civil-union legislation was a sign of the strong opposition in both the state House of Representatives and the state Senate for gay marriage, and did not mean that he was stepping away from his drive for full-fledged marriage rights.


"I am the Speaker of the House and I am an openly gay man. This is very emotional for me,” he said. “But as speaker, I understand counting votes and what I can deliver for all of us. And I believe I am delivering rights to us today and it’s not killing the cause.”

Protester Wendy Becker, of Providence, begged him to put gay marriage to a vote, saying: “We need to let people do the right thing.”

Fox replied: “I understand that. This is the right thing for now. We’ll keep working.”

His move won support from both Governor Chafee, a strong advocate of same-sex marriage, and Senate President M. Teresa Paiva Weed, an opponent, but it was lambasted by the lead sponsor of the abandoned same-sex marriage bill, the protesters outside Fox’s State House office, and a phalanx of advocacy groups, including Marriage Equality Rhode Island.

As a same-sex marriage advocate, Chafee said he “had hoped that legislation enacting it would have reached my desk this year,” but he respects Fox’s political assessment and believes “passage of civil-union legislation would be a step forward for our state and I would sign such a bill if and when it reaches my desk.”

Paiva Weed reiterated her own support for civil unions, and said she believes this approach has “broad support” in the Senate.

I also support Speaker Fox's actions.

Rhode Island Elects Openly Gay (and Black) House Speaker

Now there are two! Two openly gay, people of color who are the elected heads of state legislative bodies, that is. Earlier this year, MadProfessah's friend John Pérez was elected by the California Assembly Democratic caucus to become the first openly gay, Latino head of a state legislative body (and second openly gay person in history, following Minnesota's Allan Spears).

Now, Gordon Fox, has been elected Speaker of the House in Rhode Island. From the Providence Journal's blog:

Gordon D. Fox was elected as the state's first black and openly gay House Speaker, moments after West Warwick Democrat Willliam J. Murphy relinquished the helm on Thursday.

Fox was elected House Speaker with 51 votes; another 14 went to Rep. Gregory Schadone, D-North Providence, and five to House Minority Leader Robert Watson, R-East Greenwich.

He was sworn in by William R. Guglietta, chief magistrate of the state's Traffic Tribunal.

In his first speech from the rostrum, Fox told colleagues "change is absolutely necessary. We cannot continue [to conduct] business as usual. We must think anew and act anew.''

Fox is the 222nd Speaker in the history of Rhode Island. Rod 2.0 points out that Fox is in a long-term relationship but not married, since Rhode Island and Maine are the only two states in New England where marriage equality is not the law of the land (yet!):

Fox said in an interview with The Providence Journal that he is "in a long-term relationship, but not officially married. ... When I get married, I would like to do it in my home state." Rhode Island and Maine are the only New England states that have not approved marriage equality. Fox says he is "reluctant" to make a commitment to bring the issue to the House floor for a vote after Murphy leaves. Rhode Island's anti-gay Republican governor Donald Carcieri has tried to block even basic rights for LGBT couples.

Fox is biracial—his father is Irish, his mother Cape Verdean—and considers himself black. He does so, the Providence Journal writes, because he hopes to be a role model for black youngsters and black gay youth.

An example of another multiracial politician who is succeeding in America, but who identifies with the marginalized parts of his identity. I also find it fascinating that the two openly gay Speakers of the House currently serving are both people of color.