Group moves to ban gay unions

COLUMBUS (AP) -- A group that opposes same-sex marriages said it has submitted enough signatures to begin the process for putting a constitutional amendment on the November ballot.
The Ohio Campaign to Protect Marriage submitted 218 signatures on a sample petition to Attorney General Jim Petro's office Tuesday.
If 100 of those are verified, the group can begin collecting the signatures of 315,000 registered Ohio voters required to put an initiative on the ballot.
The deadline is Aug. 4 for the November election.
David R. Langdon of Cincinnati, the attorney for the Ohio Campaign to Protect Marriage, said a bill banning gay marriage that goes into effect next month isn't enough because the courts could weaken it.
But a Republican lawmaker who supported Ohio's Defense of Marriage Act said an amendment isn't necessary.
"Defining marriage as between one man and one woman already is the strong public policy of the state," said Mike Gilb, a Findlay Republican.