toledoblade.com --

COLUMBUS — Ohio’s law allowing prosecution of domestic violence involving unmarried couples does not conflict with the state’s so-called "gay marriage" constitutional amendment prohibiting laws that expand rights normally reserved for married couples, the state’s Supreme Court ruled this morning.

The case has been watched closely by prosecutors across the state. The argument that the law would undermine Ohio’s domestic violence law was unused unsuccessfully by opponents of the amendment in the 2004 election.

In a 6-1 decision, the court rejected the argument of a Warren County man that he couldn’t be subjected to domestic violence prosecution for assaulting a woman he lived with but was not married to. Among the family members listed, the domestic violence law specifically includes those "living as spouses."

"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," wrote Chief Justice Thomas Moyer. "The state does not have a role in creating cohabitation, but it does have a role in creating a marriage.

"While the intent of the domestic-violence statute is to protect persons from violence by close family members or residents of the same household, the intent of the marriage amendment was to prevent the creation or recognition of a legal status that approximates marriage through judicial, legislative or executive action," he wrote. "The statute and the constitution are not in conflict."

The sole dissent came from Justice Judith Lanzinger, of Toledo, who wrote she believed the majority misinterpreted the constitutional amendment. The amendment, approved in 2004, states that "only a union between one man and one woman may be a marriage valid in or recognized by this state and its political subdivisions. This state and its political subdivisions shall not create or recognize a legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals that intends to approximate the design, qualities, significance or effect of marriage."

Justice Lanzinger wrote that the addition of those "living as a spouse" in the domestic violence law, "clearly expresses an intent to give an unmarried relationship a legal status that approximates the ‘effect of marriage.’" She wrote that the law equates non-married couples with married couples.

Contact Jim Provance at: jprovance@theblade.com, or 614-221-0496.

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