Language to repeal Ohio’s same-sex marriage ban has been certified by Attorney General Mike DeWine, who said it now includes a proper summary of the proposed constitutional amendment.
According to the
Columbus Dispatch, DeWine rejected the first repeal amendment filed in a petition from the Freedom to Marry Ohio coalition, citing three flaws in its language.
The amendment, if passed, would modify the state constitution, changing its definition of marriage to be “a union of two consenting adults, regardless of gender.” In 2004, voters statewide approved an amendment declaring marriage to be between one man and one woman.
The repeal amendment would also allow churches to refuse to perform or honor same-sex marriages.
The Ohio Ballot Board, according to the Dispatch, must now decide whether the repeal measure should be placed on the ballot as one amendment, or be split up.
Once that decision is made, the coalition will still have to gather 385,253 valid voter signatures on another petition to put the amendment on the ballot in 2013.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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