Correction appended.
Several dozen students and community members gathered outside J. Walter Wilson yesterday afternoon to encourage Rhode Island's politicians to support the legalization of gay marriage.
The sunny weather bolstered the already energetic atmosphere of the flash rally, which lasted only 30 minutes. Many protestors held signs and responded enthusiastically to speakers and honking cars driving by.
Two bills that would legalize gay marriage are currently under consideration in the Rhode Island House and Senate judiciary committees, whose votes will decide if the bills will be debated on the floors of those chambers. Similar bills have been introduced several times in past years, but have never made it to the floor.
The bill's co-sponsors, state representatives Art Handy, D-Cranston, and Frank Ferri, D-Warwick, spoke at the rally. "This bill is moving forward because of people like you," Handy told the crowd. Student support "helps people like me be more enthusiastic and energetic," he told The Herald.
"I've been with my husband for 30 years, and I am a second-class citizen," Ferri told the crowd. He encouraged students to stay active in the fight for gay marriage.
Jeremy Feigenbaum '11, the president of the College Democrats of Rhode Island, had a similar message. "Keep continuing the fight, going to the State House and fighting for the bill," he told the gathered crowd. "It's so important that we hold our elected officials responsible for the issues we care about."
The crowd was optimistic about the bill's passage. "Your generation will be the generation that makes a difference with same-sex marriage," said Kelly Garrett, coordinator of the LGBTQ Resource Center. "These are hopeful and exciting times."
The rally was organized by the Queer Political Action Committee, along with the Brown Democrats and Marriage Equality Rhode Island, which held a phone bank for protestors to call their senators during the rally.
Gabe Schwartz '13, co-director of the committee, briefly addressed the crowd. "The fundamentals of the constitution are being undermined" by the lack of a gay marriage bill, he said.
Schwartz was contacted about planning the rally by Rhode Island Students for Equality, an organization recently founded by Kyle Marnane, a senior at Johnson and Wales University. The rally was the third of six that the group is organizing in universities across the state. "Getting students to do it is much more effective," Marnane said.
Lauren Childress '14, a member of the Queer Alliance who attended the rally, said she is surprised the bill has not passed yet. By joining the rally, she is hoping to move the bill's passage forward.
"We are the next generation of this country's leaders," said Margaret Baxter '14, another protestor. "So getting involved early on is important."
A previous version of this article incorrectly referred to Jeremy Feigenbaum as the president of the Brown Democrats. Feigenbaum is the president of the College Democrats of Rhode Island. The Herald regrets the error.
