The Rhode Island Jackass

By Dave Anderson:

A decent basketball player and the sister of a C-list celebrity met in August and then married six weeks later. Not the smartest thing in the world, but not amazingly unusual. The normal suspects are running pools for the divorce date, but no one questions their legal rights and obligations to each other now. They're straight.

A jackass in Rhode Island is questioning other couples' committments even if they couples had known each other for significantly longer:

An opponent of same-sex marriage, Governor Carcieri has vetoed a bill giving domestic partners the right to claim the bodies of — and make funeral arrangements for — their loved ones.

He took issue with the definition of a domestic partner as “a person who, prior to the decedent’s death, was in an exclusive, intimate and committed relationship with the decedent” for at least a year, saying a year “is not a sufficient duration to establish a serious bond between two individuals ... [relative to] issues regarding funeral arrangements, burial rights and disposal of human remains.”

No one would question the spousal rights of the Odom-Kardashian couple despite the fact that they have known each other for only a few months. Jack-ass Gov. Carcieri, please recognize reality and even if your religious/political beliefs means not recognizing gay marriage (you’ll be irrelevant soon enough), recognize the reality that is shifting around you on the multitude of relationships that exist and find some way to not be a jackass and shit-upon your citizens in order to hold your right flank in a primary.