Rhode Island Assembly Overrides Governor’s Veto On Funeral Rights

01/05/09-by Bridgette P. LaVictoire
Rhode Island Republican Governor Don Carcieri vetoed a law which would have granted same-sex and unmarried couples the right to plan the funerals of their late partners. Today, by a wide margin, the Rhode Island State Assembly overrode that veto. Governor Carcieri, who is affiliated with the National Organization for Marriage, vetoed the bill stating that it undermined the sanctity of marriage. This is the same kind of language that many opposed to marriage equality tend to use, and they often do so in order to hide their belief that homosexuality is wrong, unnatural, and/or a sin.

The RI lawmakers made the decision to back this law after hearing the heartbreaking case of Mark Goldberg who spent five weeks trying to get the remains of his late partner for burial. Because the state does not recognize same-sex marriage, and state officials initially refused to release the body because Goldberg was not a relative.

Part of the push for marriage equality is to ensure that cases like this do not happen. Gov. Carcieri is term limited, and the legislature is likely to take up the issue after the next election.