Gay marriage supporters in Ohio held a
rally in Columbus on Valentine's Day.
The 3-hour rally took place outside the
Franklin County Courthouse on High Street which houses, among other
departments, the county's marriage license bureau. Some
demonstrators took their protest to the marriage license department.
An effort to repeal the state's 2004
voter-approved constitutional amendment limiting marriage to
heterosexual couples and legalize gay nuptials in Ohio began last
year by the group Freedom to Marry Ohio. The group must collect
roughly 385,000 valid signatures by July to qualify for this
November's ballot.
“I'm getting excited,” Get Equal
member Tom Morgan told WKSU.org.
“We're getting more and more endorsements. We've got a whole
bunch of things in the works. I'm confident.”
Morgan brushed aside the concerns of
Equality Ohio and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), both of which
believe it's too soon to repeal Ohio's ban and have refused to
publicly endorse the plan.
“It doesn't bother us at all. We've
got many endorsements from labor, from politicians. We think that we
are going forward. Regardless of whether we get their endorsements
or not.”
“We were basically told by HRC that
they would help us out when it was sure that it was a sure thing.
And then they would sweep in and help us out. Gee, thanks,” Morgan
added.