Ohio Gay Marriage Initiative Roils Skeptics

[Freddie Stubbs]

Some See Conservatives Pushing Bans in Close States to Spur Turnout for Bush
By Vanessa Williams
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, May 10, 2004; Page A05


David Langdon, a registered Republican in the swing state of Ohio, says it doesn't matter to him whether President Bush is reelected this fall, but some gay rights activists are skeptical.

Langdon is the attorney for a Cincinnati group that recently launched a petition drive to place a state constitutional amendment on the November ballot outlawing gay marriage, even though the governor in February signed into law a measure that prohibits Ohio from recognizing same-sex unions.

Opponents of the Ohio initiative, and similar movements in other key battleground states, suspect the real goal is to ratchet up turnout among conservatives to help Bush in what is expected to be a close election. In the 2000 race, Bush won Ohio by less than 4 percentage points.

Langdon said his only motivation in backing an amendment to the state constitution is to place the gay marriage ban out of reach of the courts. "I could care less whether this helps George Bush or not," said Langdon, who said he snubbed Bush in 2000 for Howard Phillips, the presidential candidate for the Christian conservative Constitution Party. "The reason we're pushing for a constitutional amendment is so we can take the issue out of the hands of a judiciary that we believe has gone completely haywire. . . . The reason I do what I do is to protect marriage."

more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12865-2004May9.html

[mrgorth]

1. Hateful xenophobes.