COLUMBUS, Ohio — While Massachusetts inches closer to legalizing same-sex “marriage,” another state in the union is determined to head in the opposite direction. Lawmakers in Ohio gave final approval Jan. 21 to a measure banning same-sex “marriage” and prohibiting benefits for state employees’ unmarried partners.
The state’s Senate passed the legislation on an 18–15 vote. The House had already approved the bill in December, and Gov. Bob Taft promised to sign the measure into law.
The bill’s passage ended seven years of debate on the issue. Republican Rep. Bill Seitz sponsored the current legislation, telling the Senate that the recent events in Massachusetts (where that state’s Supreme Court declared the state’s homosexual “marriage” ban unconstitutional) could affect Ohio.
“My concern is the cost of the courts rewriting statutes in ways we did not intend,” Seitz told a Senate committee. (TAB)
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