PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Tempers flared and voices rose Thursday night as Rhode Island state lawmakers held hearings on legislation to make the state the sixth to legalize gay marriage.

Chairs in the Senate committee room filled up hours early, and opponents and supporters lined hallways outside with capitol police officers standing by. At several points during the hearing, opponents of gay marriage standing outside had to be quieted after loudly chanting "one man, one woman."

"Marriage between one man and one woman is more sacred than anything," said Roy Gustafson, a Warwick auto body technician who took time off work to protest the legislation at the Statehouse. "We're being bullied into this by states like Massachusetts. Rhode Island should stand up and say we're not going to do it."

Same-sex marriage is legal in Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and the District of Columbia.

Rhode Island lawmakers have debated bills to allow gay marriage for years. Supporters like their chances this year thanks to the election of Gov. Lincoln Chafee, an independent who supports the bill.

Patricia Baker told lawmakers she hopes to see the bill pass before she dies. The 54-year-old corrections officer from Johnston, R.I. has terminal lung cancer and requires an oxygen tank to breathe.

Baker married her wife, Deborah Tevyaw, in Massachusetts five years ago, but Tevyaw isn't eligible to receive Baker's social security benefits. As Baker told her story to lawmakers, Tevyaw wiped away tears.

"I worked all my life for those benefits," Baker said. "We own a house. We pay taxes. But they told me my Social Security benefits would go back into the system when I die. How is she going to keep the house?"

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The Rhode Island House could vote on its own version of the legislation within a few weeks. House Speaker Gordon Fox, D-Providence, is openly gay and a co-sponsor of the bill. He said the fate of the legislation could be determined in the Senate, where Democratic Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed opposes the bill.

"The Senate is more of a battleground," he said.

Indeed, at least a few senators at Thursday's hearing said they oppose what they think is a dangerous change to traditional marriage law.

"We cannot marginalize sin," said Sen. Harold Metts, D-Providence. "That's the danger... I don't hate anyone, but I do believe that marriage is between one man and one woman."

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