In 2004, Ohioans voted in favor of a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.
Nine years later, many voters — including Sen. Lou Gentile, D-Steubenville, and Rep. Debbie Phillips, D-Athens — hope to renege on that amendment.
Many LGBT individuals have become open about their sexuality since 2004, leading more Ohioans to support equal marriage rights for same-sex couples,
Phillips said.
In fact, United States Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, recently announced he had flipped his formerly negative stance on gay marriage after his son came out to him.
“I think attitudes have been changing across the country,” Phillips said. “I think that more people have been talking about the issue and that more people have been open with their friends and family. If you look at Portman, it was his son who came up to him to help him step back and look at the issue.”
Gentile and Phillips said they hope same-sex marriage is legalized in Ohio, but that religious institutions should have the right to abstain from performing and recognizing such marriages.
“I think that if a religious institution has a certain definition of marriage, between a man and a woman, we shouldn’t infringe upon that,” Gentile said. “I don’t think the state should discriminate, though, and I think that people should have equal protection under the law.”
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments Wednesday on the Defense of Marriage Act, which defined marriages as heterosexual, preventing same-sex couples from receiving federal marriage benefits, according to an ABC News report.
Ohio’s current same-sex marriage ban prohibits same-sex couples from opportunities that are available for straight couples, including healthcare benefits, Gentile said.
“It is such a regressive contrast,” he said. “We’re getting into dangerous territory if we are not treating people equally, and this amendment does that.”
There are no current legislative measures to propose a ballot initiative to repeal the amendment, Phillips said.
Without action in the Ohio General Assembly, Freedom to Marry Ohio — an organization co-founded by Ohio University graduate Ian James — is currently gathering support for a proposed initiative on the ballot this November.
If passed, the initiative would repeal the current same-sex marriage ban and create a new amendment that would legalize same-sex marriage, without obligating religious institutions to perform and recognize these ceremonies, James said.
If Freedom to Marry Ohio meets state filing requirements by July 3, James said Athens County would be crucial for the amendment’s approval.
“Athens County will absolutely play a big role,” James said. “It’s the place I always look to, to do the right thing. It’s the only county in the state that opposed the marriage ban in 2004.”
sh335311@ohiou.edu
