A majority leader comes out: Rhode Island legislator Gordon Fox decided to tell everyone why the battle for marriage equality in the Ocean State is personal.

Gordon Fox wasn't planning on speaking at a March 31 rally for same-sex marriage at Rhode Island's capitol building, but as a cosponsor of the state's pending marriage-equality bill, the 42-year-old Democrat and house majority leader was asked to address the crowd. Fox thanked the people who had just shared their stories at a legislative hearing in support of his bill and then suddenly realized he needed to share his own. He's gay, he said, and in a six-year relationship.

The announcement took everyone by surprise, including Fox's partner, and made the 12-year veteran of the Rhode Island house the only openly gay legislator in the state. The son of an Irish father and an African mother, Fox has never spoken publicly about being gay, although he and his partner, whom he declined to name, have been open with colleagues about their relationship. Shortly after the rally, The Advocate spoke to Fox about his coming-out and the future of marriage for same-sex couples in the Ocean State.

What did your partner say when you got home from the rally?

He said, "You think we should talk about this stuff a little bit before you do it?" [laughs] We've always led our lives as who we are. He's helped on my political campaigns. If someone asked me if I was in a relationship with a man, I would have said yes.

Tell us about what's going on in the Rhode Island legislature.

There's no civil unions bill in play right now. So it's really the opposite extremes: the same-sex marriage bill and two "defense of marriage" bills. The argument [for the "defense of marriage" bills] is that marriage has been the same since the dawn of time and therefore you have to put it in a constitutional provision that a marriage is defined as between a man and woman. What we're trying to do is defeat that notion: Marriage is ever-evolving, and as a heterosexual, you have nothing to fear.

Is what's going on in Massachusetts affecting the debate in Rhode Island?

We're so close, we follow and we lead each other. [There] has been a very interesting debate, and it is driving the whole debate between civil unions and marriage. It's had a tremendous impact. In fact, it's really sort of cast the argument that civil unions are separate and unequal. We're really feeding off that energy from Boston.

How do people in Rhode Island feel about same-sex marriage and civil unions?

It is an uphill battle. I think you're seeing the numbers moving where now--just like in Massachusetts--civil unions, which just a few years ago were off the table, are now being talked about as a compromise. So that in and of itself has moved this in the right direction. If Rhode Island doesn't get there this year, I think eventually this debate will progress and you will see a codification of same-sex marriage.

A lot of people compare bans on same-sex marriage to laws that once criminalized interracial marriage. Is that a personal argument for you?

If my parents, who were married in the 1950s, didn't reside in Rhode Island but happened to reside in Virginia or one of the states that had these crazy laws, I [might] not be here. It goes back to the argument for civil rights. And it's about challenging this notion that marriage is some sort of stagnant institution that doesn't progress with humanity.

Will your coming-out hurt you politically?

I would hope not. I've had well over 300 e-mails and stacks of phone messages, many from ray constituents, who are supportive and appreciate my representation even more than they did before. I think it will be a positive.