Toward the end of Pride month, the Rhode Island state legislature moved a pair of bills onto the governor’s desk that ensure greater equality in housing, employment and public accommodations — plus, they passed a third bill related to marriage equality, which the governor has already signed.
The first, the Rhode Island Fair Housing Practices Act, “removes outdated language from the definition of sexual orientation in Rhode Island’s civil rights laws addressing housing, employment and public accommodations,” explains GLBTQ Legal Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) on their website.
This act also “repeals exemptions that allowed discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or expression for smaller housing units, which make up a large percentage of housing stock in the state,” GLAD explains.
The legislation, led by state Rep. Edith Ajello and Sen. Meghan Kallman, passed both the state’s house and senate on June 28 and moved to Governor Daniel McKee’s desk, where it awaits his signature.
The second, The Gender Inclusive Restroom Act “ensures that all single-stall restrooms in public buildings be labeled as accessible for use by any gender and requires that all new or substantially renovated government buildings have at least one single use restroom available,” GLAD explains.
State Rep. John Edwards and Sen. Melissa Murray sponsored the act, which cleared both the house and senate on June 28 and awaits the governor to sign.
The third, An Act Relating to Domestic Relations—Solemnization of Marriage, “ends the General Assembly’s role in deciding who may solemnize a marriage, a process that has provided legislators the opportunity to use a procedural vote to express their disapproval of marriage equality by voting against officiant requests from same-gender couples,” GLAD explains.
Gov. McKee signed this bill into law on June 25.
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