The Freedom to Marry and Religious Freedom Amendment (Second Resubmission), Initiative Petition (PDF), was certified by the Ohio Attorney General. The wording of the previous submission, Freedom to Marry and Religious Freedom (Resubmission), Initiative Petition (PDF), said that no religious institution would be required to perform or recognize a marriage, but did not define “religious institution”. The concern was that religious hospitals or other institutions could be a “religious institution”, and court battles would result over whether these hospitals and other institutions must recognize a same sex marriage. The new language states:
“…no religious house of worship or the religious house of warship’s clergy shall be required to perform a marriage. All legally valid marriages shall be treated equally under the law. For the purposes of this Section, a religious house of worship is one where the primary activity is religious worship.”
