The Wayne County Democratic Party has
endorsed an effort to repeal Ohio's gay marriage ban.
The effort to repeal Ohio's 2004
voter-approved constitutional amendment defining marriage as a
heterosexual union began last year. The group FreedomOhio is in the
process of collecting the roughly 385,000 valid signatures needed by
July to qualify for this November's ballot. The group has said that
it expects to meet the deadline.
“We support this amendment because a
loving couple should have the freedom to marry regardless of gender,”
Betsy Sheets, the party's chairwoman, said in a statement. “The
amendment also guarantees religious choice. It will be up to the
religious institution to decide to perform or recognize a same-gender
marriage or not.”
The endorsement comes a little over a
week after three groups, including the Human Rights Campaign (HRC)
and Equality Ohio, announced a coalition to win broader rights for
LGBT Ohioans, but cautioned against acting too soon on the marriage
front.
In an email to supporters, Ian James, a
co-founder of FreedomOhio, said that Equality Ohio and HRC have “a
standing invite to serve on the Executive Committee to bring marriage
equality to Ohio.”