was the second to last state to make prostitution illegal. Until November 2009 Rhode Island law made prostitution legal provided it took place indoors. In a 2009 study Rhode Island was listed as the 9th safest state in the country. In 2011, Rhode Island became the third state in the United States to pass legislation to allow the use of medical marijuana. On May 25, 2022, Rhode Island fully legalized recreational use of marijuana, becoming the nineteenth state to do so. Additionally, the Rhode Island General Assembly passed legislation that allowed civil unions which Governor Lincoln Chafee signed into law on July 2, 2011. Rhode Island became the eighth state to fully recognize either same-sex marriage or civil unions. Same-sex marriage became legal on May 2, 2013, and took effect August 1. Rhode Island has some of the highest taxes in the country, particularly its property taxes, ranking seventh in local and state taxes, and sixth in real estate taxes. Notable people Thomas Angell (1618–1694) – co-founder of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations Joshua Babcock (1707–1783) – physician, American Revolution general, state Supreme Court justice, and postmaster John Clarke (1609–1676) – Baptist minister, co-founder of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, author of its influential charter, and a leading advocate of religious freedom in America William Coddington (1601–1678) – magistrate of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Judge of Portsmouth, Judge of Newport, Governor of Portsmouth and Newport, Deputy Governor of the entire colony, and governor of the colony William Ellery (1727–1820) – a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of Rhode Island Samuel Gorton (1593–1677) – settled Warwick Nathanael Greene (1742–1786) – Continental Army officer, considered George Washington's most gifted officer Esek Hopkins (1718–1802) – Commander in Chief of the Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary War Stephen Hopkins (1707–1785) – Governor of Rhode Island, RI Supreme Court justice, Signatory of the Declaration of Independence Anne Hutchinson (1591–1643) – early settler of Newport, the catalyst of the Antinomian Controversy H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937) – author Oliver Hazard Perry (1785–1819) naval commander and hero of the War of 1812, the best-known and most prominent member of the Perry family naval dynasty Samuel Slater (1768–1835) – industrialist, "father of the industrial revolution" Gilbert Stuart (1755–1828) – painter, one of America's foremost portraitists James Mitchell Varnum (1748–1789) – general in