Restrictions Prior to May 7, 2004, same-sex marriage was neither recognized nor prohibited in Ohio. On December 10, 2003, the
Ohio House of Representatives passed the
Defense of Marriage Act, by a 73–23 vote, banning same-sex marriage and "statutory benefits of legal marriage to nonmarital relationships", along with prohibiting state recognition of out-of-state same-sex marriages. The
Ohio Senate passed the legislation by a 18–15 vote on January 21, 2004. On February 6, Governor
Bob Taft signed it into law, and it took effect on May 7, 2004. The ban was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in
Obergefell v. Hodges on June 26, 2015. Ohio's statutory prohibition on same-sex marriage, though unenforceable, remains on the books and has not been explicitly repealed. In 2023, representatives
Jessica Miranda and
Tavia Galonski introduced unsuccessful legislation to repeal the ban. On November 2, 2004, voters approved
State Issue 1, an
initiated constitutional amendment defining marriage as "a union between one man and one woman" and prohibiting any "legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals that intends to approximate the design, qualities, significance or effect of marriage" in the state of Ohio. The amendment passed by a vote of 61.71% in favor and 38.29% against. It went into effect on December 2, 2004. The provisions in the
Constitution of Ohio prohibiting same-sex marriage have since been declared unconstitutional, but they have not been explicitly repealed. In 2013, FreedomOhio and
Equality Ohio sought state officials' approval for a ballot initiative to repeal the constitutional amendment and allow same-sex marriage. Two prominent
Republicans, Senator
Rob Portman and former Attorney General
Jim Petro, gave their support to the campaign. However, no initiative was placed on the ballot. In 2024, activists announced they would push for a citizen-led ballot initiative to constitutionally protect Ohioans from
discrimination and repeal the ban on same-sex marriage. Initially, this ballot measure would have both overturned the marriage ban and prohibited state and local governments from discriminating based on "race, color, creed or religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression regardless of sex assigned at birth, pregnancy status, genetic information, disease status, age, disability, recovery status, familial status, ancestry, national origin or military and veteran status". However, the
Ohio Ballot Board split the initiative into two on July 9, 2025—one to repeal the marriage ban and the other to ban discrimination. Representative
Terrence Upchurch criticized the decision to split the initiative, "It's one issue. It's cut and dry." An organizer for Ohio Equal Rights, a group created to campaign for the citizen-led ballot initiative, said, "There's definitely political will for using trans people to divide Ohioans. The hopeful side of me appreciates that they are recognizing the support for same-sex marriage. That's great." Both initiatives, which were certified on August 8, require collecting 442,958 signatures in order to appear before voters.
Lawsuits State cases Lacking legal representation and support from the local LGBT community, a lesbian couple from
Dayton sued the state in
Thorton v. Timmers in 1974, after being denied a
marriage license. In 1975, a state court denied their request for a license and concluded that "it is the express legislative intent that those persons who may be joined in marriage must be of different sexes." A similar case,
Fullington v. Ohio, was brought by Russ Stalk and David Fullington in 1990, but dismissed by an Ohio county municipal court on October 11, 1990.
Obergefell v. Hodges A
Cincinnati same-sex couple filed a
lawsuit,
Obergefell v. Kasich, in the
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio on July 19, 2013, alleging that the state discriminated against same-sex couples who had lawfully married out-of-state. The main plaintiff was
Jim Obergefell, while the named-defendant was Governor
John Kasich. On July 22, 2013, District Judge
Timothy Black granted the couple's motion,
temporarily restraining the vital statistics registrar from accepting any
death certificate unless it recorded the deceased's status at death as "married" and his partner as "surviving spouse". On August 13, 2013, Black extended the temporary restraining order until the end of December. The case was restyled
Obergefell v. Wymyslo on September 25, with Health Department Director Theodore Wymyslo as the named defendant. Funeral director Robert Grunn was added to the lawsuit so that he could obtain clarification of his legal obligations under Ohio law when serving clients with same-sex spouses. On December 23, 2013, Judge Black ruled that Ohio's refusal to recognize same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions was discriminatory and ordered Ohio to recognize same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions on death certificates. Black ruled in a similar case around the same time. In
Henry v. Wymyslo, four same-sex couples legally married in other states sued to force the state to list both parents on their children's
birth certificates. On April 14, 2014, Black ruled that Ohio must recognize same-sex marriages from other jurisdictions, and on April 16
stayed enforcement of his ruling except for the birth certificates sought by the plaintiffs. Attorney General
Mike DeWine announced plans to
appeal the decisions. On May 20, the
Sixth Circuit consolidated the two cases, now
Obergefell v. Hodges with the appointment of
Richard Hodges as the new director of the
Ohio Department of Health, and on November 6 ruled 2–1 that Ohio's ban on same-sex marriage did not violate the
Constitution of the United States. On January 16, 2015, the
U.S. Supreme Court consolidated
Obergefell with three other cases from
Kentucky,
Michigan and
Tennessee, agreeing to review the case. After hearing
oral arguments the following April, the court ruled on June 26, 2015, that Ohio's constitutional ban violated the
Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution on
equal protection and
due process grounds. The ruling meant that the earlier Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals decision was reversed, and same-sex couples began immediately marrying in the state. Governor Kasich said he was disappointed by the court ruling but stated, "They've made their decision and we just move on". Among the first same-sex couples to marry in Ohio were Roy Keith Garrett and Chris Richardson in
Cleveland on June 26 just hours after the Supreme Court's ruling. Two more couples, Jamie Moore and Tim Scott, and Patricia Hanen and Elaine McCoy, were married just minutes later in the same city. Jimmie Beall and Mindy Ross, who had unsuccessfully applied for a license every
Valentine's Day for the previous 7 or 8 years, were the first same-sex couple to receive a marriage license in
Columbus. Across the state, many couples rushed to their county courthouses in the hours after the court decision to apply for licenses, including in
Dayton,
Ironton, and
Toledo. Mayor
John Cranley officiated at the weddings of half a dozen same-sex couples on June 26 at
Fountain Square in Cincinnati.
Developments after legalization On March 15, 2016, the
Ohio Supreme Court ordered the use of
gender-neutral references in family court cases, replacing terms such as "husband" and "wife". The directive applies to words like "father", "mother", "parent" and "spouse" in its description of terms expressing familial relationships, which cover areas including
divorce,
child support,
guardianships,
adoption,
domestic relations and
domestic violence. The order took effect the same day. ==Demographics and marriage statistics==