R-ISLANDER

RI College and the Courts...Women Win

This via Inside Higher Education Online:  Rhode Island College and the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island have settled a lawsuit brought by a women’s group over the college’s censorship of signs supporting abortion rights, the ACLU announced Tuesday. The campus Women’s Studies Organization, a student group, sued the college after a December 2005 incident in which its president ordered campus police officers to take down signs that the group had posted near the college’s entrance that said “Our bodies, our choice” and “Keep your rosaries off our ovaries.” Rhode Island officials argued at the time that the students hadn’t gone through the necessary campus procedures to post signs on campus property. Under the settlement, the college did not admit wrongdoing, but it agreed to cover the student group’s legal costs and to give it $5,000, the ACLU said.

BISHOP TOBIN AND CARCIERI NEED TO STEP OUT OF THE WAY

I am a proud Roman Catholic.  Love my Church, even when I think it is wrong.  On many sexual issues, the Church is wrong.  Just as it was wrong for centuries in the Galileo case, it is also wrong today about sexuality.  Luckily, there are men and women of other faith traditions who are willing to stand up in support of gay marriage and the full rights as citizens due to Gay RIslanders.  Bravo to them. 

"Two religious groups and 28 clergy members are telling the state Supreme Court that not all religious leaders in Rhode Island oppose same-sex marriage or the divorce that two Providence women, who married in Massachusetts, are now seeking in Family Court.

The Roman Catholic Bishop of Providence, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and others have filed friend-of-the-court briefs warning of consequences they say would result if the marriage between Margaret R. Chambers and Cassandra B. Ormiston is recognized for the purpose of granting them a divorce.

Now, local branches of the United Church of Christ and the Unitarian Universalist Society are joining various clergy members in a legal brief that says, “Bishop Tobin and the Becket Fund do not represent the only faith-based position on this matter. On the contrary, within Rhode Island’s religious communities, many support granting full respect and recognition to the committed relationships of same-sex couples.” 

It is time for RI to take its place with the other progressive New England states who have all recognized the rights of gay citizens in one way or another when it comes to marriage.

RI belongs in those ranks. It is the last to move on any such right for our gay citizens except for maybe NH. Time to join our New England Sister States and to be on the front lines of the fight for freedom as Rhode Island always has been throughout history.

Providence Journal

ACLU PROTECTING PUBLIC'S RIGHT TO KNOW

The Journal reports on how information is routinely withheld from the public in RI and how the ACLU wants to change that.

The ACLU says it’s time for comprehensive reforms to the public records law, including:

•Requiring that arrest reports, including police narratives, be made available as soon as possible, but no later than three business days from a request.

•Requiring agencies to certify that those who handle open-records requests have been trained in the law’s requirements.

•Increasing fines to up to $5,000 for violations of the law. The law now allows for fines of up to $1,000 for “knowing and willful” violations.

•Prohibiting public bodies from demanding personal information from someone requesting public records.

•Reducing the time public officials have to respond to requests from 10 days to 3 days, or 10 days for “good cause.”

•Requiring that copying and search fees be waived if an agency fails to provide records in a timely manner.

The 25-page report, titled “The Public’s Right to Know vs. the Public’s Right to ‘No,’ ” was prepared for ACCESS/RI, a freedom-of-information coalition.