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(Apologies to those of you who have already seen this.)

Dear Rhode Island residents,

If you are in favor of gay marriage, please take a moment to write to your state legislators today (or very soon).

The pro-gay marriage bill (Bill #2705) is being discussed today in the RI Senate. The House will probably consider their version soon, too.

Go to the URL below to find your legislators (please read and -personalize- the sample letter, or feel free to write your own) --

Rhode Island Campaign for Marriage Equality

If your legislators are not in the drop-down menus, that means they are probably either co-sponsors of the bill (i.e. most East Siders' legislators) or are sponsoring anti-gay marriage bills.

The 'undecided' legislators listed in the drop-down menus are the most important ones to contact -- the more letters they get from their constituents in favor of the gay marriage bills, the better. After all, some of them have gotten a lot of anti-gay letters (one Senator from Johnston has received over 300 anti-gay letters).

Don't be fooled by the conservatives' civil union gambit. In Vermont, and in Massachusetts, the civil union model is vastly inferior to full marriage, and would almost certainly fall short in Rhode Island as well. Separate is not equal, and 'kind of good enough' isn't good enough.

Thank you very much for your time and support,

P.S. Here are pointers to the actual text of the bills --

Senate:
http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText04/SenateText04/S2705.htm
(sponsored by Senators Perry, Roberts, Sosnowski, and Gibbs)

House:
http://www.rilin.state.ri.us/BillText/BillText04/HouseText04/H7995.htm
(sponsored by Representatives Handy, Ajello, Callahan, E Coderre, and Fox)