Rhode Island senator introduces bill to ban marriage equality via referendum

Just as the Rhode Island House of Representatives takes up a vote on a bill to legalize marriage equality, a Rhode Island state senator has introduced a bill that would place a referendum on the 2014 ballot asking voters to amend the state constitution to ban same-sex marriage by defining marriage as "the lawful union between one man and one woman." The bill, S0096, introduced Wednesday by Sen. Frank Ciccone (D-Providence, North Providence), would keep in place Rhode Island’s civil unions law for same-sex couples, but would amend the constitution to prohibit same-sex marriages from being recognized. Gov. Lincoln Chafee, an Independent, issued an executive order in 2012 that said the state would recognize legal same-sex marriages performed elsewhere.