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April 6, 2012

GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

National Freedom to Marry will not back Ohio effort

by Eric Resnick

Columbus "Freedom to Marry is not behind the signature campaign to advance marriage in Ohio" and will not be partnering with it, said the group's national campaign director Marc Solomon.

"Freedom to Marry Ohio is not part of Freedom to Marry," Solomon added, “We probably share the same cause, but we are not the same organization.”

Freedom to Marry Ohio is the group backing an initiative to amend the state constitution to repeal the 2004 marriage ban and allow same-sex marriage.

The Ohio group's leader, campaign consultant Ian James of Columbus, ran a social networking campaign last winter to get Columbus mayor Michael Coleman to sign onto the national group's Mayors for Marriage campaign.

Inspired by the success of that effort, James filed ballot language with the Ohio attorney general last month, the first step to amending the state constitution.

"That is not our approach to doing things," Solomon said. "Ballot measures are expensive and we need to do years of groundwork, hit benchmarks, and get the state to where we can win."

"Getting to the ballot is the last step. It

BRIAN DEWITT

lan James, left, chats with former Cuyahoga County commissioner Tim Hagan at the Cleveland marriage rally on March 24. Hagan is a backer of James' marraige amendment initiative.

should never be the first step," Solomon added.

The statewide LGBT group Equality Ohio is also not supporting James' effort as it currently stands.

"We have created a board-level commit-

newsbriefs

tee to do strategic planning to discuss going forward on the amendment," said Equality Ohio director Ed Mullen.

Mullen said before Equality Ohio gets involved, it will conduct its own polls, consult with constitutional scholars and progressive policy experts to determine the best amendment language, and hold public forums around the state to hear what people need and want to support.

"Ultimately, we'd like a broad coalition," Mullen said, "and a sound plan for moving forward."

Mullen believes James' plan to be on the 2013 ballot is too soon to do

what needs to be done.

James counters that his campaign "caught fire on the Internet with Support for Gay Marriage on Facebook growing to more than 200,000 grass roots backers almost over night."

"Almost overnight, we had more [than] 1,400 volunteers in all 88 counties stand up and ask how can they get involved and help. It has truly been inspiring," James says.

However, James doesn't answer questions about who these people are or how organized they are.

Asked in an e-mail, "If LGBT organizations with an interest in marriage equality and constituencies are not aboard, will you postpone or slow your effort until they can be brought into the coalition?" James ignored the question. He has indicated in the past that he has no plan to slow do

Campaign and firm have same address

One question James has refused to answer, three times, is whether or not his businesses will profit from a marriage campaign. Campaign consultants get paid whether they are successful or not.

James is the chief executive officer of the Strategy Network, a campaign consulting firm. According to its website, the firm's specialties include ballot planning and management, voter identification and persuasion, petition and ballot placement, door to door canvassing and web based communications.

Continued on page 10

New Hampshire marriage repeal fails by wide margin

Concord, N.H.-Republican lawmakers defected in droves to torpedo a bill that would have repealed a two-year-old marriage equality law and put a non-binding referendum before voters on the November ballot.

The March 21 vote in the Republicandominated House of Representatives looked dicey going in. LGBT advocates were hop-

ing for a less than two-thirds majority so the bill could be stopped by a promised gubernatorial veto.

But repeal supporters could not even muster a simple majority. The bill went down 211-116.

Under the bill, same-sex marriages that had been performed since the law took effect in 2010 would have remained valid, but

future marriages would have been banned, and the state would return to its earlier civil union construct.

House speaker Rep. William O'Brien supported the bill strongly, but Rep. David Bates, its sponsor, had trouble mustering support.

Republicans in the state have a tendency towards libertarian ideals, which did not

help the repeal effort. Nor did a threatened veto by Gov. John Lynch, who is not seeking re-election this year. The two Republican candidates for his post both support repeal.

Continued on page 10

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