PROVIDENCE — Jenn Steinfeld celebrated an anniversary of sorts in a crowded committee room at the State House last night.

For the 10th year running, the executive director of Marriage Equality RI testified in support of same-sex marriage.

Change, she said, takes time. But ultimately, it is inevitable.

In what may be a sign of changing times, the perennial legislative debate over gay marriage saw a new addition last night: the question of whether same-sex couples married in other states should be allowed to divorce in Rhode Island.

Sponsored by House Majority Leader and Providence Democrat Gordon D. Fox, an openly gay man, that proposal would do what the Supreme Court elected not to in a decision late last year –– allow couples to opt out of an unhappy marriage.

“Divorce can be a more fundamental principle than marriage because it has to do with the due process that’s the bedrock of American jurisprudence,” Fox said before the hearing. Prohibiting it effectively denies “a fundamental principle of democracy.”

The passionate testimony before the House Judiciary Committee late last night came hours before another critical proceeding in the same-sex divorce debate. This morning, the state Superior Court is expected to hold a hearing to determine whether that court can grant a divorce to a Providence couple who were married in Massachusetts.

In a December 2007 decision that drew national attention, a divided state Supreme Court ruled that the Family Court lacked jurisdiction to grant the divorce. The majority opinion said that under the law allowing Family Court to handle divorces, the word “marriage” means just one thing: the union of a man and a woman.

Inherent in that ruling was the suggestion that the question was more a matter for the legislature than the courts, which is what led Fox to craft the proposal.

Same-sex divorce was just one of the bills that drew dozens of advocates, families and clergy members on both sides of the issue to the State House last night.

Rep. John J. McCauley Jr., D-Providence, submitted a bill that would give domestic partners the spousal benefits of family medical leave, nursing home visitation and funeral planning.

Rep. Jon D. Brien, D-Woonsocket, sponsored legislation that would place on the November ballot a question of whether same-sex couples should be allowed to wed. After years of debate with little resolution, Brien said it’s time to put the question to the voters of this state.

But it was the matter of gay marriage and divorce that prompted the most emotional of speeches.

On one side, Maggie Gallagher, president of the Washington, D.C.-based National Organization For Marriage, traveled to Rhode Island to defend the idea of marriage as “the way we bring together the two great halves of humanity — male and female — to make and raise the next generation.”

On the other, members of the newly formed Lawyers for Equality and Diversity said it creates a legal mess to prevent a rightfully married couple from legally divorcing in this state.

By 10:30 last night, the committee had taken testimony from dozens in the audience, with more lined up waiting to speak despite the late hour. Chairman Donald J. Lally Jr., D-Narragansett, said members did not plan to immediately vote on any of the bills.

The fate of these proposals remains unclear. House Speaker William J. Murphy and Senate President Joseph A. Montalbano have in the past opposed same-sex marriage along with Governor Carcieri, whose administration reiterated his opposition yesterday.

A Murphy spokesman said the speaker has not yet reviewed the same-sex divorce legislation.

But Fox, his second in command, said he remains optimistic about his bill. “I hope to get it to the floor and hopefully to the Senate,” he said.

cneedham@projo.com