Ohio court:
Marriage ban does not preclude unmarried couples from
domestic violence protections

Ohio's domestic violence laws do not conflict with the state's ban on same-sex marriage, the Ohio supreme court ruled in Columbus Wednesday. In a 6-1 decision, justices rejected the argument that the domestic violence law was unenforceable in cases involving unmarried couples because it refers to them as living together ''as a spouse.''

Chief Justice Thomas Moyer wrote in the opinion that lawmakers included many groups under the domestic violence law and that describing people's living arrangements isn't the same as creating a law approximating marriage.

The same-sex marriage ban prohibited the government from creating any such approximation.

''The state does not create cohabitation; rather it is a person's determination to share some of life's responsibilities with another that creates cohabitation,'' Moyer wrote. ''The state does not have a role in creating cohabitation, but it does have a role in creating a marriage.''

The case was being closely watched around the country for the precedent it could set affecting a dozen similarly worded laws.

A Warren County common pleas judge had dismissed a felony domestic violence charge against Michael Carswell after he argued that the section of law under which he was charged conflicted with the marriage amendment. The charge, in which he was accused of assaulting his live-in girlfriend, was reinstated by an appeals court. Wednesday's ruling upholds that decision. (Julie Carr Smyth, AP)