Marriage equality takes root

EQUAL FOOTING: Rep. Frank G. Ferri, D-Warwick, left, and partner Tony Caparco got married in Rhode Island on Aug. 1, 2013, after the marriage-equality law passed to take advantage of legal protections here. They had married in Canada in 2006. / COURTESY EDDY STAHOWIAK
EQUAL FOOTING: Rep. Frank G. Ferri, D-Warwick, left, and partner Tony Caparco got married in Rhode Island on Aug. 1, 2013, after the marriage-equality law passed to take advantage of legal protections here. They had married in Canada in 2006. / COURTESY EDDY STAHOWIAK

More than two decades ago, Rep. Frank G. Ferri, D-Warwick, was rushed to Kent Hospital with a reaction to a cortisone shot.
The matter turned out not to be a serious health issue, but when his longtime partner, Tony Caparco, wanted to see him in the emergency room, he was initially denied a visit. The reason was that in the eyes of the law at the time, he was not a relative, family member or married partner.
Since Caparco did have a health proxy, a legal instrument that grants rights to the bearer, ultimately the hospital allowed the visit, Ferri said. But the situation, he explained, was one example of the need for protections the state now grants through a marriage-equality law.
The law, officially one year old last month, now gives gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered partners the same rights in this and other situations that heterosexual couples have long enjoyed.
“That was part of the motivation [for helping get the legislation passed],” Ferri said in a recent phone interview: “He should have been able to say, ‘That’s my husband.’ ”
Now that the law is a year old, more gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender couples are enjoying state protections regarding rights to real estate, inheritances, family court and a host of other issues, according to local lawyers.
And while city clerks in Rhode Island’s major cities don’t segregate marriage data and can’t say how many gays, lesbians and others have married in the past year, lawyers say clients are availing themselves of the legal protections gay marriage now provides.
Janson Wu, an attorney with GLAAD Boston involved in Rhode Island lawmakers’ push to legalize gay marriage, said that in many – but not all – situations, the institution of marriage makes it less necessary for same-sex couples to execute separate legal documents such as the health care proxy in order to protect their rights – an exercise that often costs thousands of dollars in legal fees. “There are a number of legal rights that married spouses enjoy that unmarried partners do not – such as the right to inheritance absent a will and the right to make medical decisions in the absence of a health care proxy,” said Wu.
With the new law now in place in Rhode Island, he said, “Once married, now you automatically inherit a spouse’s estate, absent a will, and you automatically are able to make health care decisions without a health care proxy.”
Since not every state in the U.S. has enacted or recognizes same-sex marriage protections, however, couples to whom this applies are still advised to obtain and maintain these documents, where needed, he noted.
Texas does not recognize same-sex marriages.
Carrying legal papers everywhere instead of being recognized as a spouse had been the norm for same-sex couples until several states – 19 to date, including Rhode Island – authorized same-sex marriage, Wu said.
“This is what gay couples have had to do for decades – carry copies [of legal paperwork] in the car, in a flash drive, all due to the incredible vulnerability our families face when they’re not seen as a family,” he said.
Philip Laffey, chairman of the Rhode Island Association of Gay Professionals and a civil-litigation attorney with Marshall and Laffey in Providence, said legal protections in Rhode Island also cover real estate issues in helpful ways. He also is gay.
Owning a home through “tenants by the entirety,” for instance, Laffey said, affords married couples protections from creditors if one member of the couple gets sick, and goes into a nursing home, for instance. Without this protection, a portion of the home could be taken or a lien could be placed on it.
This is a protection that same-sex couples now enjoy the way heterosexual couples always have, he said.
Protections with the new marriage law even extend to divorce, according to Sara H. Clark, an attorney with Pelletier and Clark in Providence. “I’m finding that a lot of couples are starting to come forward to seek divorce [who] have probably been separated for some time,” Clark said. “Even if a couple [are] separated, they can’t financially break away from each other. Now [that divorce is available], people are finally able to make that cut.”
A couple might have been married in another state, for example, then moved to Rhode Island and now are seeking to dissolve the union. Prior to Aug. 1, 2013, when the marriage law was passed, she said, they could not obtain a legal divorce here but would have to complete separate agreements instead.
Of the 16 gay couples getting divorced that Clark works with in Rhode Island, about half had separated previously, she said.
Now, “instead of separating, they can go through and divide their assets, [and] finalize the relationship,” she said.
Clark said she prefers dealing with the ramifications of the marriage-equality law because the laws are now treating gay couples “just the way every other couple is [treated], and that’s always how I’ve tried to run my practice.
“It’s almost like a sense of relief because people finally have the ability to separate in a forum that is neutral,” she said. “It’s not just lawyers battling it out. Having access to a court gives people a certain sense of relief.”
Her professional partner, attorney Brad H. Pelletier, who is gay, said there are hundreds of state-enumerated rights for inheriting property that the marriage-equality law now provides. Before the new law was enacted, the [LGBT] community was treated like “second-class citizens,” he said.
“It’s also the recognition within the community that [same-sex couples] are within this protected class now,” he said. “It’s more of a cultural and societal norm. Once the federal government recognizes marriage, we’ll pretty much be all set.” •

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