Unintended consequences of majority stupidity

Yup… I said it: “majority stupidity”. It is a theme I’ve often used before. It is also a theme that other activists have used. Sometimes the majority just doesn’t know what is best. Other times… the majority just makes stupid decisions… like the marriage ban in Ohio.

According to an article on 365gay.com News, an Ohio appeals court has ruled that because of the marriage amendment approved by voters in 2004, prosecuters cannot lay domestic violence charges against people in cases where the couples are not married:

In case that has been closely watched by lawyers across the country an Ohio appeals court has ruled that domestic violence charges cannot be laid in cases where the couple is unmarried because of the state’s ban on same-sex marriage.

Opponents of the ban, passed in 2004, warned that it was so poorly worded it could be used to deny rights to unmarried opposite sex couples.

Since then prosecutors in several Ohio counties have refused to lay charges in cases of domestic violence involving non married opposite-sex couples.

An appeals court on Friday reaffirmed that, ruling that the state’s Ohio’s 25-year-old domestic violence law is in conflict with the marriage amendment.

The amendment states that Ohio cannot “create or recognize a legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals.”

In a case involving a woman charged with domestic violence against her boyfriend the 2nd District Court of Appeals upheld a lower court’s dismissal of the charge based on the amendment.

Like I said… sometimes the majority just doesn’t make good decisions. Out of the hate and bigotry used in passing the ban on recognizing same-sex relationships in Ohio, only bad has come.

Maybe this will give some incentive for people to think before they make decisions affecting the lives of so many people.

Posted in Civil Rights, LGBT, Marriage Equality, Politics |