The proposed amendment would strike out the portion of Ohio’s constitution forbidding gay marriage, which says: “Only a union between one man and one woman may be a marriage valid in or recognized by this state and its political subdivisions.”
The amendment, if it makes it onto a statewide ballot and is approved by a simple majority of voters, would replace that text with a mandate that the state “shall recognize and treat equally all marriages regardless of race, sex, or gender identity.”
The amendment would, however, give individual clergy the option to refuse to “solemnize” marriages of their choosing.
Ohio has recognized same-sex marriages since the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, an Ohio-based case that directly struck down the state’s constitutional and legal bans on gay marriage and guaranteed it as a federal right.
The amendment’s petition was approved Thursday by Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, which means he determined the petitioner’s written summary was a fair depiction of the actual proposed constitutional amendment.
Now, the petition will be considered by the Ohio Ballot Board, which needs to determine whether the proposal can be contained in just one amendment.
Pending ballot board approval, petitioners would need to collect signatures from over 400,000 Ohio electors and meet quotas in at least 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties to get on a statewide ballot.
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Avery Kreemer can be reached at 614-981-1422, on X, via email, or you can drop him a comment/tip with the survey below.
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