Gay rights activists in Ohio on
Wednesday announced that a question on whether to allow gay marriage
will not be on the 2013 ballot.
Last year, FreedomOhio began an effort
to repeal Ohio's 2004 voter-approved constitutional amendment
limiting marriage to heterosexual unions.
“We have decided to be on the ballot
in 2014 to allow for a continuing dialogue with voters across Ohio
about why marriage matters,” Ian James, FreedomOhio co-founder,
said in a statement. “We will continue to build upon the hundreds
of thousands of conversations we've had already, to identify
supportive voters, and to raise the resources necessary to mobilize a
full-on campaign.”
“We are also excited to announce that
the Human Rights Campaign, Equality Ohio, the National Gay &
Lesbian Task Force, National Freedom to Marry, the Gill Action Fund,
the American Unity Fund and the BISC met today and discussed how to
become involved in the campaign to bring marriage equality to Ohio in
2014,” he added.
It was not immediately clear whether
FreedomOhio had successfully collected the roughly 385,000 valid
signatures needed to qualify for this November's ballot.
BuzzFeed's Chris Geidner reported that
other groups present at the meeting issued a statement to “clarify
inaccurate statements” in FreedomOhio's “unapproved” press
release.
“However, contrary to the assertions
made by Ian James in an unapproved statement, there was no agreement
reached to put forward a ballot initiative in 2014 or any other
specific date. Instead, all of the groups in attendance, including
Freedom Ohio and nearly a dozen other leading organizations, agreed
to work together to talk to Ohio voters about why marriage matters
and strengthen our coalition in the months ahead, reserving judgment
on the timing of a ballot initiative until a clear pathway to victory
could be determined and carried out,” the
groups said.
Gay rights opponents responded with
glee at the confusion.
“It's clear to see that the
homosexual activist community is in disarray,” CCV Action, which
led the campaign to approve Ohio's marriage ban, said in an email to
supporters.