This morning, State Rep. Bill Patmon agreed to join FreedomOhio’s effort to kill House Bill 376, otherwise known as the Ohio Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
“I’m relieved to see Rep. Patmon working to stop this destructive and discriminatory piece of legislation,” said FreedomOhio co-founder and Executive Director Ian James. “Our state already has an unconstitutional marriage ban in place, depriving loving same-sex couple of the right to be legally married – the last thing we need is to further marginalize and attack LGBT Ohioans.
“We have asked Rep. Patmon to send a letter to the Ohio House Clerk indicating that he no longer wishes to be a sponsor of HB 376, and that he wants to stop any further progress of this legislation. FreedomOhio has also asked him to publicly oppose the discriminatory nature of this bill, and will continue to work with Rep. Patmon and other legislators to prevent the passage of this harmful, unnecessary bill.”
FreedomOhio is the state’s largest LGBT equality organization with over 62,000 members. The group is working to bring their clear, concise and constitutionally sound 46-word amendment to Ohio voters in 2014. The amendment will allow same-gender couples to go to a courthouse and receive a marriage license, while also protecting and respecting the rights of houses of worship to choose whether or not to perform and/or recognize those marriages. Recent polling from Public Policy Polling (PPP) showed 56% of Ohio voters support FreedomOhio’s amendment.
