Ohio's
constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage will be
tested for the first time with regard to its effect on
domestic violence statutes and unmarried couples. The
Associated Press reports that Warren County
prosecutor Rachel Hutzel argued Tuesday to the state's
supreme court that the amendment, approved by voters in
2004, was intended only to ban marriages and civil unions
for same-sex couples, not to invalidate
domestic-violence laws when the couple involved is
unmarried.
Attorney Thomas
Eagle argued, however, that the state had
contradicted the language of the ban when his client,
Michael Carswell, was charged with assaulting his
girlfriend, who lived with him, AP reports. The ban
declares that no state law may "approximate the
design, qualities, significance, or effect of
marriage," according to the AP. (The
Advocate)
