The Dispatch wrote City may add registry for gay couples
Saturday, June 28, 2008
BY ROBERT VITALE
Christopher Hoffman wasn’t surprised on Valentine’s Day 2004 when clerks refused to give him and his partner a marriage license at the Franklin County Courthouse. Those are the state’s rules. Ohio legislators had just banned gay marriage, and a large majority of voters statewide were about to do the same.
But in Columbus, a city whose leaders love to tout the gay-friendly label bestowed by national magazines and civil-rights groups, Hoffman thought there would be an alternative by now. A growing number of big cities and major-college towns have set up City Hall registries for gay couples, a largely symbolic gesture that skirts bans on gay marriage in some states. Despite statements of support from elected officials, Columbus has yet to join the trend.
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