Lambda Legal Will Urge Ohio Courts to Reverse Domestic Violence Rulings

(Warren County, Ohio, May 18, 2005) — Arguing that Ohio’s new marriage amendment is limited to barring same-sex couples from marriage, Lambda Legal will seek leave to file friend-of-the-court papers in two domestic violence cases currently on appeal in state court.

“Ohio’s antigay marriage amendment has nothing to do with domestic violence laws,” said Camilla Taylor, Staff Attorney in Lambda Legal’s Midwest Regional Office in Chicago. “The amendment blocks marriage for same-sex couples and targets “legal statuses” that ‘approximate’ marriage, but nothing approximates marriage. The rights and respect marriage brings are unique and affect every aspect of life. Wedding bells don’t ring just because the State protects you from domestic violence.”

Two cases, one in the Court of Appeals in Warren County and the other at the Court of Appeals in Cuyahoga County are on appeal after lower court judges found that the amendment invalidated domestic violence statutes as they relate to unmarried couples. In effect, these rulings reduced what would have been felony domestic violence charges to misdemeanors.

Lambda Legal will seek leave to file the brief in Warren County on May 19 and in Cuyahoga County in early June, arguing that the plain language of the amendment does not reach Ohio’s domestic violence law, which brings married and unmarried people within its protection. “The lower courts reached an absurd conclusion in these cases,” Taylor said. “The amendment is spiteful and writes discrimination into Ohio’s Constitution. But it certainly doesn’t leave unmarried people at risk in the face of domestic violence.”

Late last week in a case filed by Lambda Legal and the ACLU, a federal judge in Nebraska struck down Nebraska‘s extreme constitutional amendment that bans any and all forms of legal recognition for same-sex relationships, including domestic partnerships and other basic protections.

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Lisa Hardaway 212-809-8585 ext.266; Cell: 402-369-2104

Lambda Legal is a national organization committed to achieving full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV through impact litigation, education and public policy work.