Rhode Island's Republican governor Don Carcieri spoke to the
Massachusetts Family Institute on Thursday night to promote
"traditional marriage," prompting anger from Rhode Island gays fighting for marriage equality.

Carcieri's meeting with the MFI, a group opposed not only to same-sex
marriage but to civil unions and domestic partnerships as well, took place
at a hotel in a Boston suburb and was closed to the public. A small
contingent of gay protesters from the group Queer Action Rhode Island
showed up outside the hotel to voice dissent at the governor's actions.

"[MFI] really has a lot of really antigay views, just in terms of gay people even living as gay people," Susan Heroux of Queer Action Rhode Island told Rhode Island's ABC6.

Members of Queer Action Rhode Island asked Carcieri if he would meet with them, and the governor agreed -- a meeting is planned for next month. Carcieri, who has been outspoken in his opposition to same-sex marriage, governs the only New England state that has not yet adopted a marriage equality law.