Well Ohioans, you've been hoodwinked. You thought you were stopping gays from getting married last November when you voted for that amendment. Apparently, you were all too damn lazy to read the language or listen to the debate. Bottom line: it affects more than gays according to an Ohio Court.
According to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, a judge struck down part of the state's domestic violence law today based on the "gay marriage" amendment:
Ohio voters who approved a constitutional amendment last fall that denied legal recognition of unmarried and gay couples probably didn't envision the measure being successfully used as a defense in domestic violence cases.It's a matter of time before other Ohio laws are challenged based on this amendment.
But that became a reality Wednesday when Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Stuart Friedman ruled that the amendment, approved by voters as Issue 1, made part of the state's domestic violence law unconstitutional.
Friedman said that because Ohio's domestic violence law recognizes the relationship between an unmarried offender and victim as one "approximating the significance or effect of marriage," it represents a direct conflict with the amendment's prohibition against such recognition and is thus unenforceable.
The ironic thing here is that gays didn't really lose anything under the amendment. See, gays can't get married anyway. It's those straight Ohioans who voted against their own interests....again. Who knew they'd be supporting domestic violence? Who knows if they also voted to end divorce? We'll see.
