Gordon Fox, the openly-gay speaker of the RI House, is apparently mulling voting for SSM as an ex officio member, because they lack the votes otherwise:
As the gay marriage bill remains stalled in the House Judiciary Committee, Statehouse sources tell GoLocalProv that there is widespread talk that House Speaker Gordon Fox might intervene to get the bill out of the committee.
As the Speaker, House rules allow Fox to vote as an ex officio member of the committee. Several Statehouse sources say that could be one way to get the bill out of Judiciary. “I think he might come in and vote for it,” said Judiciary Committee member Charlene Lima.
... a GoLocalProv tally of the votes shows that the bill still faces an uphill battle. Based on interviews and public statements of the reps, GoLocalProv counts three confirmed yes votes and five no votes. That leaves six reps who did not respond to inquiries in time for publication and one who did, but said he did not yet have a public position on the bill.
