On Friday, US District Judge Timothy Black of the Ohio federal court issued a statement saying that the state should honor the union of same-sex couples who have gotten married elsewhere. USA Today said that Black's statement essentially struck down a voter-approved ban on gay marriage. Black's statement followed the final arguments in a lawsuit that sought to challenge the constitutionality of the same-sex marriage ban.
USA Today said Black will be issuing a ruling on April 14 that would block state officials in enforcing the marriage ban, of which he said was a violation of constitutional rights of due process and equal protection. On the other hand, it is clear that Black's ruling will not permit same-sex couples to marry legally in Ohio.
The federal judge's ruling on the state's same-sex marriage ban was not the first one he has done. USA Today said Black made a similar, albeit narrower ruling in December last year, and contends in the written decision that Ohio's ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional and that states in the US cannot discriminate against same-sex couples for the sole reason that some of its voters do not like homosexuality.
His December ruling, USA Today said, stemmed from a July lawsuit filed jointly by Jim Obergefell of Cincinnati and another gay Ohio man. The complainants have filed the lawsuit following their partners' deaths and are seeking a court order to allow the state to list their spouses' death certificates as married. State officials have reportedly appealed on Black's December ruling.
President Chad Griffin of the Human Rights Campaign said in a statement following Black's ruling, "For the second time Judge Black has affirmed that the marriages of committed and loving same-sex couples must be recognized by the state of Ohio. Since the Supreme Court's landmark marriage equality rulings last June, not a single state marriage ban has survived a federal court challenge."
Spokesman Dan Tierney for Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said that the state will be appealing their case Black has recently ruled on.
