Ohio to Recognize Gay Marriages From Other States

Gay rights advocates are poised to win at least a partial victory in Ohio. A federal judge in Cincinnati says he will issue an order by April 14 that the state must recognize gay marriages performed in other states, reports the AP. But Judge Timothy Black is not expected to go further and strike down Ohio's own 2004 ban on same-sex marriage, reports the Columbus Dispatch. The exact implications won't be clear until the ruling actually comes out.

Black will declare that it's “unconstitutional for Ohio to not recognize out-of-state marriage," says an attorney who represented gay couples before the judge. "The case does not deal with the right to marry in Ohio. We didn’t ask for that.” The state's attorney general says he will appeal once the ruling comes out, but agrees on the narrowness of its scope. “There is no order to that tells Ohio, 'You have to start marrying people,'" says Mike DeWine. (More Ohio stories.)