Backers of amendments banning discrimination and protecting same-sex marriage said they’re pleased with the progress they're making to put them before Ohio voters this fall. And they said they’re pleasantly surprised by the responses they’re getting in some areas of the state.
Petitions are being circulated for two amendments. One would overturn the ban on same-sex marriage in the state law and the voter-approved constitutional amendment that were both approved in 2004. They’ve been dormant since the U.S. Supreme Court's decision legalizing same-sex marriage in 2015. The other would prevent local and state governments from discriminating against LGBTQ Ohioans, women and several other protected groups. It would ban discrimination based on race, color, creed or religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, regardless of sex assigned at birth, pregnancy status, genetic information, disease status, age, disability, recovery status, familial status, ancestry, national origin, or military and veteran status.
Ohio Equal Rights Co-Chair Lis Regula wouldn't say how many of the necessary signatures have been collected at this point. But he said the efforts are on track, and he's happy with the responses to it.
“We are doing better than expected and we have been pleasantly surprised by some unexpected folks,” Regula said in an interview.
The group needs signatures from 44 of 88 counties. Regula said volunteers circulating petitions in rural counties such as reliably red Hocking and Darke Counties and are finding support for the effort. Regula said that could be because people in small towns tend to be kind and connected to each other. But he said it goes beyond that.
“Rural Ohio has been hit hard by the opioid crisis, addiction, substance abuse, and people are suffering in those areas,” Regula said. “And that is one of the protected groups.”
Ohio Equal Rights had wanted a single amendment, but last summer, the Republican-dominated Ohio Ballot Board split the issue in two, requiring that petitions be circulated in two parts. They have to get 413,387 valid petition signatures on each part by July 1 to get them both on the November ballot.
