It's been a
struggle in Ohio, which banned marriage equality back in 2004. See, Freedom To
Marry has been working on a proposed
constitutional amendment to undo Ohio’s 2004 same-sex marriage ban [see post HERE]. So,
they gathered signatures, more than enough signatures in fact, to submit their
proposed amendment, but Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said the, um,
wording wasn't correct on their petition, so they failed.
Until now.
The petition was rewritten,
and the appropriate signatures gathered, and now marriage equality advocates
are one step closer to overturning that discriminatory, though constitutional,
ban on same-sex marriage. DeWine has approved the petition's new
language for the amendment that would call marriage the "union of two
consenting adults, regardless of gender."
Now it's up to Freedom
to Marry Coalition to gather some 385,253 valid signatures of registered
Ohio voters in order to put the marriage equality amendment on the Ohio ballot.
Ian James, Freedom To Marry co-founder, believes this can be accomplished by
November 2013. So, it's not a done deal yet, in fact, it's probably more
than a year away.
 |
| Ian James |
And it faces an uphill
challenge. Back in 2004, by a margin of 62% to 38%, Ohio
voters supported an amendment to not only ban same-sex marriage, but also
ban health benefits for public employees in
domestic partnerships. But Ian James thinks that maybe the tide has shifted,
and cites a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll which shows
approval for marriage equality at 49%--though I think it's higher--up from 40%
when Obama took office in 2009.
And Freedom To Marry will
follow the example set by New York governor, Andrew Cuomo, when he worked to
pass marriage equality in his state, by including an explicit exemption
for religious institutions in the amendment language. Meaning no church or
religious group should be forced to perform, witness, support, condone, enjoy,
partake, in a same -sex marriage if they choose not to do so.
And that's fine.
Many gay people just want to
get married. If our churches don't wish to perform the ceremony, well, maybe
we'll look for more friendly churches, because the tide is changing people.
via Cubby via email via HuffPo
Getting the signatures on the petition won't be an issue. The real issue is getting this through the elections commission - the body that will decide if the issue goes on the ballot as ONE issue, or its carved up like a Thanksgiving Day turkey into multiple issues.
ReplyDeleteAnd of course Phil Burress (Citizens for Community Values) is still vowing to destroy any Republican who even shows any sign of support for this.
It takes a lot of battles to win the war and right now we have quite a few battles raging! Luckily the #'s are leaning in our favor on several! Keep up the good fight!!
ReplyDeleteStill seems odd, a majority voting on rights of a minority. That said WA has two about to set up this fall to overturn the legislature so off we go to the races.
ReplyDeleteThanks Bob :-)
ReplyDeleteGood luck, Ohio
ReplyDelete