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Conservative Campaign Aims to Change GOP Opposition to Same-Sex Marriage

Freedom to Marry founder Evan Wolfson speaks to the City Club of Cleveland this year.
Freedom to Marry founder Evan Wolfson speaks to the City Club of Cleveland this year.

A group of conservative activists connected to the pro-same-sex marriage organization Freedom to Marry is campaigning in Ohio this week.

They call themselves Young Conservatives for the Freedom to Marry, and they're trying to convince the GOP to erase its platform against same-sex marriage before the Republican convention in Cleveland next year.

Ed Lopez with the group said he's telling Republicans that backing off opposition to gay marriage is both the right thing to do and important to the GOP's political survival.

"There's a growing support for this among young people," Lopez said, "and even across generations, more broadly beyond the Republican Party."

He said the party would be better off focusing on other issues, like taxes.

One high-profile Republican, Sen. Rob Portman, endorsed gay marriage in 2013.

Meanwhile, the state attorney general, Republican Mike DeWine, has filed a brief in support of Ohio's same-sex marriage ban, which is being challenged in a case before the U.S. Supreme Court. The court is set to hear arguments in that case April 28.
 

Nick Castele was a senior reporter covering politics and government for Ideastream Public Media. He worked as a reporter for Ideastream from 2012-2022.