Gay marriage ban poses unintended consequences

[atommom]

Topeka — In Ohio, a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage was used as a defense to reduce a charge in a domestic violence case involving an unmarried heterosexual couple. Dozens more men are using the amendment to try to have their abuse charges reduced or dismissed.

In Michigan, the attorney general has ruled that a gay-marriage ban approved by that state's voters also prohibits public employers from offering health benefits to partners in homosexual and heterosexual relationships.
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In Ohio, a Cuyahoga County judge reduced a charge against a man accused of domestic violence against a woman because the judge said Ohio's domestic violence law recognized relationships between unmarried couples as "approximating the significance or effect of marriage."
But the new gay marriage ban in Ohio denies legal recognition of unmarried couples, the judge said.

Other judges have ruled against that argument, but the question persists, and appeals in this case and similar ones are expected to reach the Ohio Supreme Court.

http://ljworld.com/section/stateregional/story/200262