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2nd Judge: Ohio Gay Marriage Ban
Affects Straight Couples Too
by 365Gay.com from the Web, March 24, 2005
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Cleveland, Ohio -- A second Ohio judge has ruled that the state's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage means a law against domestic violence cannot be enforced unless the perpetrator and the victim are married.
It is the second time in two days that the ban has been used to have domestic violence charges in heterosexual relationships rejected.
In the latest case a Cleveland judge said that a man who beat his live-in girlfriend could not be charged because of the provision in the amendment that says the state cannot grant legal status to unmarried people living as spouses.
The first case also involved a case involving man who struck his live-in opposite sex mate.
Both cases are being appealed.
During the campaign to get voter support for the amendment gay and lesbian groups warned that the measure would be used to also deny rights to common law heterosexual couples.
The amendment, they say, could be used to challenge wills, deny benefits, and affect dozens of laws involving heterosexual couples who live together but are not married.
That warning was reissued this week, and LGBT rights groups say the amendment should be repealed.
But, backers of the amendment said the only change they want to make is to the state's 25-year-old domestic violence law, which until now has always applied to both married and unmarried couples.
Phil Burress, president of Citizens for Community Values and chairman of the Ohio Campaign to Protect Marriage, said there's nothing wrong with the amendment that his group campaigned for.
"These (domestic violence) crimes should have the same penalty whether you're married or not," Burress said.
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