Tavares Touts Bank Experience
Providence
Journal, November 4, 1998
By Katherine Gregg
[Tavares was a state senator and then ran for General Treasurer (an elected
statewide office) and won after not only voting to repeal the sodomy law but having his
vote publicized here. – Tina Wood]
[snip]
He has also broken ranks with some in his Catholic church. "I am very, very much
pro-life. But there are pro-life people to the extreme right of that issue that would like
to hang me because I voted for gay rights and I voted to (repeal) the sodomy law."
THESE VOTES say more about the way he approaches issues than his qualifications for
state treasurer. "When I read the gay rights legislation, I said, ‘One, if you
are gay and you work someplace and you are doing your job, you shouldn’t be fired
solely (because) you were gay. Two, if you wanted to (rent) or buy a house and you met all
of the criteria everyone else would have to meet, you should not be denied that housing
solely by virtue that you were gay.’"
He took heat, but remains adamant on this issue. "No one should be discriminated
against. My church does not promote discrimination on that basis, and my God, though I
never met him, I believe strongly he does not discriminate on that basis. So, to me that
was a very clear-cut issue."
"Sodomy was a little more complex, but it came down to: you have two adults who,
consenting, want to do whatever they want to do. Should it be permitted?. We can all
debate, is it moral? I can have my own opinion, and you can have yours . . . But is it
criminal? No."
[snip]
[Home] [News] [Rhode Island]
