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Ohio enacts law banning gay marriageBy Jim Leckrone, Reuters from forbes.com from the web, February 9, 2004 COLUMBUS, Ohio, Feb 6 -- Ohio on Friday enacted one of the most far-reaching gay marriage bans yet passed by a state in a law that also refuses benefits such as health insurance to the unwed partners of state workers, gay or not. With Republican Gov. Bob Taft's signature, Ohio reaffirmed a stance already adopted in more than three dozen other U.S. states that do not recognize the legality of same-sex unions, a hot-button issue in this presidential election year. "First and foremost, this is not a law of intolerance," Taft said. "I do not endorse, nor does this law provide for, discrimination against any Ohio citizen." The Republican-led Ohio Legislature gave final approval to the measure on Tuesday. Taft said Ohio had to act because the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in recent opinions "redefined marriage" and cleared the way for marriages between same-sex couples. Two Canadian provinces have also approved them, and Vermont and smaller localities permit civil unions. "As a result, Ohio could have same-sex couples who were 'married' in Massachusetts taking legal action in Ohio to recognize that marriage and to obtain the resulting benefits," Taft said. President George W. Bush has said he believes a marriage is solely between a man and a woman and suggested an amendment to the U.S. Constitution may be needed to overcome the rulings of "activist judges." Tim Downing, president of Ohioans for Growth and Equality, which fought the measure, said, "It's a sad day for Ohio ... this bill goes far beyond what 37 other states have done previously" and is the "most regressive ... of its kind in the nation." He predicted it would hurt the state's economy because employers in the state and those thinking of coming in faced confusion on whether domestic partner benefits were legal, an issue that will have to be sorted out in court. "The Defense of Marriage Act," in addition to declaring same-sex unions illegal, voids benefits such as health insurance coverage, the right to make health care decisions and the right to adopt children to unmarried partners of state workers. WORRIES ABOUT PRIVATE-SECTOR IMPACTCritics believe it could be used to deny domestic partner benefits now provided by private companies in Ohio -- including such giants as Procter & Gamble (nyse: PG - news - people) and Federated Department Stores (nyse: PG - news - people). Supporters of the law insisted the provision barring benefits applied only to Ohio's roughly 60,000 state government employees. While the measure does not prevent the private sector from offering domestic partner benefits, critics have said gay marriage opponents could cite the precedent of the law to sue employers that provide such benefits. A spokeswoman for Procter said the company's legal department had reviewed the law and "at this point it is not going to affect the benefits we are giving to our employees." She said the company had offered domestic partner benefits since 1999. The American Civil Liberties Union has said it was weighing a lawsuit challenging the law as discriminatory. Taft said the law provided several protections, including permission for same-sex partner benefits to be negotiated in state contracts with unions and a reaffirmation that churches could still perform and sanctify civil unions between same-sex couples. (Emphasis added.) |
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