Times are changing, and that's a good thing to Jennifer Stanley, who is an organizer for the 'Ohio Freedom to Marry Amendment'. "Chipping it away state by state is helping," says Stanley when referring to the number of states passing marriage equality laws. "Marriage equality, that would be fantastic."
The law would open Ohio marriages to all couples, not just heterosexual. "Gay people will always exist and we will always have children," Stanley tells 13abc. "We want to provide stable homes and legal rights for those children."
Republican Senator Rob Portman is having his own change of heart. The GOP leader was never outspoken about gay marriage, but consistently voted against it. When the issue hit home, it struck a cord.
"My son came to Jane, my wife and I, and told us he was gay and that it was not a choice, and that it's just a part of who he is, and that's who he'd been that way for as long as he could remember," Sen. Portman said in an interview with CNN.
Ohio Republican Party Chair Bob Bennett supports the senator's decision to make up his own mind, but other Republican reaction is mixed.
"I'm not going to second guess Rob Portman, he's an old personal friend," said former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich. The Republican went on to say, "I think historically in the long run, marriage will be between a man and a women, that's been the definition for thousands of years and I don't think politicians will change that."
Portman says he would back overturning Ohio's ban on same-sex marriage if voters pushed for it. Marriage equality supporters say they'll be watching, and hope his move spurs more support in his own party.
"If it takes your own child, your own parent, your own sibling, whatever it takes, it can make you become an open person, a more inclusive person, that's good," says another marriage equality advocate, Bea Hardy.
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