Ruling in Cuyahoga could gut Ohio ban on same-sex nuptial

[Algorem]

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/1134898464152831.xml&coll=2

Sunday, December 18, 2005

A key part of the state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and special rights for couples living together violates the U.S. Constitution, a local judge has ruled.

The year-old state amendment strips rights from domestic-violence victims who are not married to their batterers and leaves married victims with greater protections, Domestic Relations Judge James Celebrezze found. That violates the equal-protection clause of the federal Constitution's 14th Amendment, the judge declared.

Celebrezze's Nov. 28 opinion by itself does not nullify the disputed part of the state amendment. But it may force the Ohio Supreme Court - and possibly the U.S. Supreme Court - to decide whether Celebrezze's ruling is right. If it is, half of the amendment would be gutted.

The amendment, which voters passed as Issue 1 in November 2004, restricts marriage and any legal union to "one man and one woman." Its second sentence bars state and local governments from "creating or recognizing any legal status for relationships of unwed partners that intends to approximate the design, qualities, significance or effect of marriage."...

[TallahasseeGrannie]

1. Ohio is really on a roll, huh?

Geez.

[Selatius]

2. I will never understand people's urge to regulate others' personal lives

It's too authoritarian for my taste. The fact that the majority of people in Ohio favor just a little bit more authoritarianism is abhorrent.

[pennylane100]

3. How does the law in Ohio treat victims who live apart from their abusers.

I do not understand why living arrangements are tied in with the right of protection against domestic violence.

Not all violence is between couples who live together, married or otherwise so if an ex-boyfriend (or girlfriend) keeps going back to beat up on their ex-mate, does that victim get less protection under the law?

[johnnie]

4. Do you people read?

The judge here in Cuyahoga says that a key part of the ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional. Not all of Ohio is red.