A majority of Ohioans say they support
an effort to repeal the state's ban on gay marriage.
According to a poll commissioned by The
Columbus Dispatch, 54 percent of Ohioans back a proposed
amendment to repeal the 2004 ban and “allow two consenting adults
to marry, regardless of their gender.” Forty percent said they
remain opposed.
The group FreedomOhio began last year
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.
The proposed amendment would allow
religious institutions to decide who they will or won't marry.
According to Chris Long, president of the Ohio Christian Alliance,
respondents were merely acknowledging the measure's religious
exemptions.
“If they would ask the question alone
to reverse the 2004 question to allow same-sex marriage, I think it
would be different,” Long
said. “But when people understand clearly what is presented to
them, I think Ohioans will again affirm their position on traditional
marriage.”
Support for marriage equality has
grown, Long said, because “homosexual activists have been
successful in a form of indoctrination in the public schools over the
past 20 years, pushing that homosexuality is an acceptable
lifestyle.”