George Forbes, president of the
Cleveland chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of
Colored People (NAACP), has endorsed an effort to repeal Ohio's gay
marriage ban, the Cleveland
Plain Dealer reported.
“The time is now to grant two loving
people the Freedom to Marry,” Forbes said in a statement. “Not
since the Civil Rights Act of 1964 has there been a more important
step to achieving equality for all Americans.”
“At the same time, we are ensuring
that religious institutions are guaranteed the freedom to refuse to
perform or recognize marriages.”
In 2008, Forbes, a former Cleveland
City Council president, at first opposed Cleveland's gay-inclusive
domestic partner registry, which guarantees no rights or benefits
whatsoever.
“I found out it was nothing more than
a registry,” he told the Gay
People's Chronicle. “I'm a civil rights lawyer and I
realized that I have never had a gay or lesbian civil rights case,
and it is because there are no rights.”
The group Freedom to Marry Ohio last
week resubmitted
a petition that seeks to repeal Ohio's ban, which voters
overwhelmingly approved in 2004. The group's first petition was
rejected by Attorney General Mike DeWine, who said it was flawed. If
DeWine approves the proposal, the group can begin gathering the
roughly 385,000 signatures needed to put the item on next year's
ballot.
(Related: Cleveland
hosts “illegal mass wedding” of 250 gay couples.)