Phil Burress, president of Citizens for
Community Values (CCV), warns Ohio politicians against backing gay
marriage.
Burress and his organization led the
campaign to approve Ohio's 2004 constitutional amendment which
prevents the state from recognizing any relationship other than a
heterosexual marriage.
“Any candidate on the wrong side of
the issue will not get elected,” Burress told Dover-New
Philadelphia-based Times
Reporter.
Burress' comments come as a second
prominent Ohio Republican is expected to endorse a 2014 campaign to
legalize such unions in Ohio.
Jim Petro, Ohio's former attorney
general, is expected to make an announcement on Monday.
(Related: Former
Ohio AG Jim Petro to back 2014 gay marriage ban repeal effort.)
Petro told The
Columbus Dispatch that he had a change of heart on the issue
after his daughter Corbin married her wife last year in
Massachusetts.
In March, Ohio Senator Rob Portman
endorsed marriage equality in much the same way, crediting the coming
out of his son Will for changing his position on the issue, though
Portman has said that he does not plan to campaign in favor of
changing Ohio's law.
Burress argued that legalizing gay
nuptials would lead to polygamy.
“Ask the question, how do you
prohibit polygamy?” Burress said. “Or anything? You've gotta
give them anything they want. When you start using words like 'equal
protection,' or when you can say there's discrimination, what are you
going to do for bisexuals? They have to have a man and a woman to
make them happy.”