Some seek end to ban on gay marriage

Associated Press

COLUMBUS

Backers of gay marriage in Ohio are taking another step to try to overturn the state’s constitutional ban enacted eight years ago.

The Freedom to Marry Coalition planned to submit more than 1,700 signatures of registered Ohio voters to Attorney General Mike DeWine.

The Columbus Dispatch reports the proposal would change the state Constitution to say that state and political jurisdictions define marriage as a union of two consenting adults, regardless of gender.

Eventually supporters will need nearly 400,000 signatures to place the proposal on the ballot this year or next.

Ohio enacted one of the country’s strictest bans in 2004 in an effort coordinated with President George W. Bush’s re-election campaign.

Some say a ballot issue in 2012 could energize religious conservatives in Ohio the way it did in 2004, an advantage pollsters believe gave President George W. Bush the edge he needed to beat Democrat John Kerry.

“There is a question about whether a divisive social issue might impact who shows up at the polls,” said Ed Mullen, executive director of Equality Ohio, a group that supports legalizing gay marriage.

“I don’t know how important that is at this point, but it’s something we have to consider.”

Opponents of the proposed ballot measure are more blunt. They say putting the issue on the ballot in 2012 would be a boon to whichever Republican emerges from the primary to face President Barack Obama this fall.———

Information from: The Columbus Dispatch, http://www.dispatch.com