US gay marriage ban "weakens other laws"
A second judge in Cleveland has agreed that the American state of Ohio's new constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriage also weakens the state's domestic violence statute.
On Thursday, Cleveland Municipal Judge Lauren C Moore ruled that a man accused of physically abusing his live-in girlfriend could not be charged with domestic violence, because of Issue 1, which voters approved last fall.
That amendment to Ohio's constitution says the state cannot give legal status to unmarried couples.
Moore's ruling came one day after another Cuyahoga County judge reached the same conclusion. In that case, where a man was also charged with striking his girlfriend, Judge Stuart Friedman reduced a felony domestic violence charge to a charge of misdemeanour assault.
Ironically, while Issue 1 was designed to deny legal status to same-sex couples, the vague wording of the amendment is now affecting heterosexual couples, as evidenced by the two judges' rulings.
Eric Stern, executive director of the National Stonewall Democrats, the largest group of LGBT Democrats, blamed the Bush administration and others who supported anti-gay state constitutional amendments that passed in 11 states in November.
"Instead of protecting families, as President Bush and Republicans claimed these measures would do, these amendments actually undermine the stability of the American family," he said in a press release.
"As we see in Ohio, the ramifications of these amendments extend far beyond discrimination against same-sex families."
County prosecutors said they would appeal Friedman's and Moore's decisions.
Camilla Taylor, a staff attorney with Lambda Legal, said not everyone agrees with Friedman's and Moore's legal opinions. She cited another recent ruling where a third Cleveland municipal judge, Ronald Adrine, had come to the opposite conclusion in a similar domestic violence case.
"I think that these cases will be decided ultimately by the Ohio Supreme Court," Taylor told the PlanetOut Network.
Some supporters of Issue 1 said weakening the state's domestic violence law was not what they intended.
Phill Burress, president of Citizens for Community Values, an organisation that lobbied for Issue 1, told a Cincinnati television station, "The law the way it's currently written is truly unequal treatment."
He promised to work with state legislators to amend the domestic violence law to fix any inequities.
Source: uk.gay.com
On Thursday, Cleveland Municipal Judge Lauren C Moore ruled that a man accused of physically abusing his live-in girlfriend could not be charged with domestic violence, because of Issue 1, which voters approved last fall.
That amendment to Ohio's constitution says the state cannot give legal status to unmarried couples.
Moore's ruling came one day after another Cuyahoga County judge reached the same conclusion. In that case, where a man was also charged with striking his girlfriend, Judge Stuart Friedman reduced a felony domestic violence charge to a charge of misdemeanour assault.
Ironically, while Issue 1 was designed to deny legal status to same-sex couples, the vague wording of the amendment is now affecting heterosexual couples, as evidenced by the two judges' rulings.
Eric Stern, executive director of the National Stonewall Democrats, the largest group of LGBT Democrats, blamed the Bush administration and others who supported anti-gay state constitutional amendments that passed in 11 states in November.
"Instead of protecting families, as President Bush and Republicans claimed these measures would do, these amendments actually undermine the stability of the American family," he said in a press release.
"As we see in Ohio, the ramifications of these amendments extend far beyond discrimination against same-sex families."
County prosecutors said they would appeal Friedman's and Moore's decisions.
Camilla Taylor, a staff attorney with Lambda Legal, said not everyone agrees with Friedman's and Moore's legal opinions. She cited another recent ruling where a third Cleveland municipal judge, Ronald Adrine, had come to the opposite conclusion in a similar domestic violence case.
"I think that these cases will be decided ultimately by the Ohio Supreme Court," Taylor told the PlanetOut Network.
Some supporters of Issue 1 said weakening the state's domestic violence law was not what they intended.
Phill Burress, president of Citizens for Community Values, an organisation that lobbied for Issue 1, told a Cincinnati television station, "The law the way it's currently written is truly unequal treatment."
He promised to work with state legislators to amend the domestic violence law to fix any inequities.
Source: uk.gay.com
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on Tuesday, March 29, 2005 at 8:54 AM.
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