EDGE Los Angeles

Rhode Island is joining nine other states and the District of Columbia in allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry.

Rhode Island appears poised to become the nation’s 10th state to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry after a legislative panel voted Tuesday to forward same-sex marriage legislation to the full House for a final - and largely procedural - vote.

Phone banks, an army of volunteers and alliances with organized labor, business leaders and religious clergy propelled gay marriage to victory in Rhode Island this week, a savvy and coordinated strategy that relied on growing public support.

Hours after France legalized gay marriage on Tuesday fiery clashes broke out between anti-gay marriage protestors and riot police.

Rhode Island senators put the state on the path Wednesday to becoming the 10th state to allow same-sex couples to marry.

Rhode Island’s long-simmering debate on gay marriage heads to a pivotal vote when a legislative committee decides whether to forward the legislation to the full Senate for a final vote.

Georgia’s got the peach, Maine’s got the whoopie pie and now Rhode Island wants to claim calamari as an official state food: Specifically, its signature appetizer.

Communities of faith have not always been strong advocates for gay civil rights. But in Rhode Island, more than 100 clergy and faith leaders have been active in the fight to secure marriage equality.

A day after the House overwhelmingly passed a gay marriage bill the head of the State Senate said its fate hinges on how broad the provisions exemptoing religious denominations from performing same-sex weddings are.

Legislation that would make Rhode Island the 10th state to allow gays and lesbians to marry still faces an uncertain future despite being overwhelmingly approved by the state House on Thursday night.