Phil Burress, chairman of Citizens for
Community Values Action (CCVA), on Monday predicted that Ohio's gay
marriage ban will be upheld on appeal.
Burress and his group organized the
initiative which in 2004 added the ban to the Ohio Constitution.
In an email to supporters sent shortly
after U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Black ordered Ohio to
immediately recognize the out-of-state marriages of gay and lesbian
couples, Burress cited a poll commissioned by CCVA.
(Related: Federal
judge orders Ohio to recognize marriages of gay couples.)
The poll found that 52 percent of
people “are certain to keep marriage as only between one man and
one woman,” while 33 percent said otherwise.
The poll's results belie an
earlier Quinnipiac University poll which found a plurality of
Ohioans support marriage equality by a 50-44 point margin. The poll
also found a large majority (71%) of young adults under 29 favor
marriage equality.
Burress said of his group's findings:
“I believe this return to pre-2004 polling numbers is a direct
result of the open hostility and bullying being experience by
citizens and people of faith who hold a natural or traditional view
of marriage.”
“The shockingly intolerant decision
by Federal Judge Timothy Black to invalidate the Ohio Constitution's
Marriage Amendment and the clear will of more than 3.3 million Ohio
voters is egregious,” Burress said. “It's another example of
homosexual activists using sympathetic judges and the courts as a
blunt instrument to force a redefinition of marriage and family on
the people of Ohio. It seems clear that when advocates of 'marriage
equality' cannot convince the people and win at the ballot box, they
resort to the courts and judicial fiat. But it's also clear that
most Ohioans still understand that natural marriage has no equal.”
“We believe Judge Timothy Black's
decision will be overturned – as it should be – by the U.S. Court
of Appeals for the 6th Circuit,” he concluded.