Federal judge rules Ohio must recognize out-of-state same-sex marriages

Judge Timothy Black of the US District Court for the Southern District of Ohio ruled on Monday that Ohio authorities must recognize same-sex marriages legally performed in other states. The court found that the state's refusal to recognize such marriages violates the Due Process Clause, Equal Protection Clause and Full Faith and Credit Clause of the US Constitution. This does not force Ohio to allow same-sex marriages to be performed within the state, but grants marital benefits, such as property rights, to couples married outside of the state.

The order was a result of a lawsuit brought by four same-sex couples who argued that the state's current allowance of only one partner from a same-sex marriage on a birth certificate is unconstitutional. The state plans to appeal the ruling, arguing that citizens of the state in 2004 overwhelmingly voted to ban same-sex marriage, giving Ohio a sovereign right to refuse recognition of these unions. Black has temporarily stayed his ruling as applied to everyone except for the four couples named in the lawsuit pending the appeal.