Citizen-led ballot initiative aims to put equal rights amendment in Ohio Constitution

Ohio Equal Rights, a political action committee, is in the process of creating a ballot initiative to create an equal rights amendment and implement nondiscrimination policies in the Ohio Constitution. 

According to the committee’s website, the initiative aims to protect Ohioans on the basis of “race, color, creed or religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy status, genetic information, age, disability, recovery status, familial status, ancestry, national origin, or military status.”

This proposal, referred to as Equality of Rights Under the Law, would be the most comprehensive equal rights amendment nationwide. Of the 28 states with equal rights policies, Nevada’s Equality of Rights Amendment is currently the most similar. 

However, one main inclusion for Ohio’s ballot-initiative are protections pertaining to marriage. 

Though the 2015 Supreme Court ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges requires every state to recognize same-sex marriage, the Ohio Constitution still includes a ban on the matter. 

“The Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision which revoked the protections of Roe v. Wade has led many to wonder if our federal protections for same-sex/same-gender and interracial marriages will be overturned going forward,” Ohio Equal Rights wrote on their website. “This amendment is a necessary defensive step to ensure our rights as Ohioans are not revoked because of decisions made at the federal level.”

The Ohio Capital Journal noted that this proposal will not make the ballot at the general election this November, so it would have to appear on a later ballot. The initiative must become certified and receive the required amount of signatures, and the deadline to be included for the November election has passed.