Rhode Island

Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee signed an executive order on Monday that recognizes same-sex marriages performed in other states, thereby granting homosexual couples the same rights as heterosexual ones.

Unlike surrounding states, like Massachusetts and Connecticut, Rhode Island does not perform same-sex marriages, but will now recognize those carried out in other states, where the practice is legal. However, these unions will not affect federally regulated benefits such as income taxes covered by the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which defines marriage as between one man and a woman.

The decision comes a week after President Barack Obama stated that he personally agrees that same-sex couples should be able to get married, an endorsement that has been met with a lot of support from gay rights activists, but disappointment from those who believe in the traditional definition of marriage. more >>

The author of the controversial prayer banner at Cranston High School West is speaking out against Jessica Ahlquist and all those who have supported the decision to remove the banner from the school's auditorium.

David A. Bradley from Stonington, Conn., recently wrote a letter to the editor at The Hartford Courant condemning the online news publication for writing an article "dignifying" a scholarship given to the 16-year-old student by fellow atheists and other supporters.

Blogger Hemant Mehta started the campaign on his Friendly Atheist website to raise money for Ahlquist whom he believed stood up for her beliefs with "class and style" despite opposition and threats from critics. The group collected more than $40,000. more >>

An atheist group has raised more than $40,000 as "scholarship" fund for Jessica Ahlquist, a 16-year-old student from Rhode Island who sued her public school and got a nearly 50-year-old Christian prayer banner removed from its walls.

Atheist Hemant Mehta is running an online scholarship fundraising campaign for Ahlquist, who attends Cranston High School West in Cranston, on his blog FriendlyAtheist.com. He says he has received $40,976 "to make her future better than her present by giving her the opportunity to go to college without worrying about things like tuition and books."

Mehta, whose bio says he is the chair of Foundation Beyond Belief and a high school math teacher in the suburbs of Chicago, will end the fundraiser on March 1. The money will be given to the American Humanist Association, which will hold onto the money in a trust fund and provide it to Ahlquist when she is ready to go to college. more >>

A Rhode Island public school board voted on Thursday not to appeal a federal court ruling that required the school to remove a 40-year-old prayer banner from its walls after an atheist student said it conflicted with her beliefs.

The Cranston School Committee voted 5-2 against an appeal, saying it did not want to meet the rising legal costs needed to defend the banner. The city of Cranston is already responsible for almost $200,000 from the original court case and legal experts say an appeal would cost more than half a million dollars.

A federal judge ruled last month in favor of 16-year-old junior Jessica Ahlquist and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), saying the banner – which begins "Our Heavenly Father" and ends in "Amen" – was unconstitutional. The banner was a gift from the school's inaugural graduating class in 1963, and features a moral credo written by a student. more >>

Florists in Cranston, R.I., are being accused of religious discrimination for reportedly denying delivery of their flowers to outspoken atheist Jessica Ahlquist, who recently won a lawsuit to remove a prayer mural from her high school's auditorium.

Some supporters of the floral shops, however, maintained that religion was not the cause of their refusal, but concerns over safety and possible negative repercussions to their businesses due to the widespread controversy of the case.

A Facebook support page called "I Stand WithThe Cranston Florists," not directly affiliated with any florist business, expressed on their wall, "It appears someone may have decided to further their agenda and subsequently generate revenue from sympathetic donors by reporting to the press that the reason the florists would not deliver is because the girl is an atheist." more >>

After being called an "evil little thing" by a local politician, receiving violent threats via social media from classmates, and having her home address publicized in a newspaper – 16-year-old Jessica Ahlquist has returned to school as the apparently not-so-popular student who managed to have a 50-year-old prayer banner removed from campus.

Ahlquist, with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), recently won a court case against her public school, Cranston High School West, that required officials to remove a prayer banner from its walls – and her challenge, and resulting victory, has angered residents. 

In the wake of that decision, Ahlquist, a self-proclaimed atheist, has faced rampant cyberbullying from peers and strangers alike. The abuse is so bad, Ahlquist says, that she might have to transfer to another school. more >>