Ohio’s attorney general defended the state’s ban on same-sex marriage by arguing that discrimination against LGBT people has been on “a steady decline,” ThinkProgress reported on Monday.
Attorney General Mike DeWine submitted a brief to the Supreme Court in which he argued that gays and lesbians have “‘attract[ed] the attention of the lawmakers’ at every level of government.” The brief was submitted to the Supreme Court in an attempt to secure the continuance of Ohio’s ban on same-sex marriage, according to ThinkProgress.
DeWine noted that “any discrimination against them has been on a steady decline” because of the fact that LGBT people can “gain the attention of lawmakers now more than ever.”
Noting that “political invisibility is not an issue today,” DeWine argued that LGBT people didn’t deserve “protected-class status” because it’s “reserved for those ‘relegated to such a position of political powerlessness.'”
The argument that gays have too much power to be protected from discrimination under the law has been used before, according to ThinkProgress. In 2013, House Republicans used the argument when they spoke out in support of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which was designed to restrict marriage to being between a man and woman.
