Republican Jim Petro, Ohio's former
attorney general, is expected to endorse a 2014 ballot effort which
seeks to repeal Ohio's 2004 voter-approved constitutional amendment
limiting marriage to heterosexual unions.
According to The Columbus
Dispatch, Petro is expected to endorse the effort during a news
conference on Monday.
FreedomOhio co-founder Ian James said
that the organization is mobilizing to put the question on next
year's ballot. If placed on the ballot and approved by voters, the
initiative would replace the state's current definition of marriage
with language allowing gay nuptials.
James' ambitious plans, however, have
put him at odds with other state and national LGBT groups.
(Related: Question
to repeal Ohio's gay marriage ban won't be on 2013 ballot.)
Petro told The
Dispatch that he had a change of heart on the issue after his
daughter, Corbin, married her wife last year in Massachusetts. He is
the second high-profile Ohio Republican to endorse marriage equality
after Senator Rob Portman, though Portman has said that he does not
plan to campaign in favor of the issue. Portman also credited the
coming out of an offspring – in Portman's case his son Will – for
changing his position on marriage equality.