The amendment, enacted in 2004, provides,
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.
A preexisting state statute, Ohio Rev. Code 2919.25(A), provides, “No person shall knowingly cause or attempt to cause physical harm to a family or household member,” with “family or household member” defined to include not just spouses and relatives, but also “a person living as a spouse,” in turn defined to include “a person who … is cohabiting with the offender,” which is in turn defined as living together with “sharing of familial or financial responsibilities and … consortium…. Factors that might establish consortium include mutual respect, fidelity, affection, society, cooperation, solace, comfort, aid of each other, friendship, and conjugal relations.” (I take it that when pushed on this, Ohio courts would require a sexual or at least a romantic relationship, or else siblings living together with “mutual respect, … affection, … society, cooperation, solace, comfort, aid of each other, [and] friendship” would be treated as “living as … spouse[s].”)
Defendant Michael Carswell was indicted for causing or attempting to cause harm to a woman with whom he was living but to whom he wasn’t married. He argued this violate the anti-same-sex-marriage amendment because the treatment of people “living as … spouse[s]” the same way as spouses involved the creation of “a legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals that intends to approximate the design, qualities, significance or effect of marriage.” A trial court agreed with Carswell; the court of appeals reversed; and the Ohio Supreme Court agreed to hear the case.
In today’s decision, the court held 6-1 (five Justices in the majority, one concurring in the judgment only) that “the second sentence of the amendment means the state cannot create or recognize a legal status for unmarried persons that bears all of the attributes of marriage –