COLUMBUS, Ohio (WLIO) – A proposed statewide anti-discrimination amendment has cleared a key hurdle by passing the Ohio Ballot Board. However, Republican members of the board voted to split the proposal into two separate measures.
The first measure would prohibit the state or local governments from passing and enforcing laws related to discrimination. It would protect against discrimination based on 12 categories: "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."
The second measure would repeal a 2004 constitutional amendment that defined marriage in Ohio as being only between a man and a woman. That language has been unenforceable since the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage nationwide.
Backers of the proposal must now gather twice as many signatures to get both issues on the ballot, potentially by 2026. Democrats on the board argued that there should be only one issue for voters to consider. Republicans countered that some voters might support one proposal but not the other.
