A Great Day for LGBT Equality in Ohio

The subhead, if I could have one, though, would be:

And yet Lee Fisher still finds a way to look weak

It is a great day, truly.  Both main Democratic candidates running to replace Sen. George Voinovich — Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner and Lieutenant Governor Lee Fisher — now support marriage equality for lesbian and gay couples.  Way to go!  In a state where, just 5 years ago, a constitutional amendment was passed prohibiting both marriage equality and even civil unions in Ohio, two statewide elected officials running for another statewide office support full marriage equality.

Unfortunately, the Ohio Senate campaign already is shaping up to be a campaign of action and reaction.  Brunner does something one morning, after previous waffling statements from the Fisher campaign, and then the Fisher campaign immediately responds in kind.

It happened starting with the campaign announcements themselves, with Fisher undecided — until the day that Brunner decided to announce.  Fisher put out a laughable e-mail in which he stated that “coincidentally” his announcement — previously unannounced — was planned for that very afternoon.  (The announcement story is detailed in this earlier Law Dork post.)

And now, there’s marriage.  Fisher previously opposed and then stated he was “not closing the door” on marriage equality. Brunner, who has supported marriage equality since before today’s youngest voters were even born, today published a piece in The Huffington Post with the pointed title, “What’s there to ‘Get’ about Marriage Equality?” In it, after discussing her long-standing support for marriage equality, she wrote:

Here we are 21 years later, and finally, some states are moving progressively to recognize the simple fact that human rights belong to everyone. I believe that we, as a society, can and must quickly recover from the hateful actions taken against our nation’s LGBT citizens and innocent children in so many states, including Ohio, in measures such as DOMA, gay marriage constitutional bans, and bans on LGBT adoptions. We must move toward the simple, human dignity of fairness, equality and respect for all persons in our laws, our policies and our actions.

By this afternoon, of course, Lee had taken his cue from Brunner, and announced that he had reversed position (with the weakest possible reversal of course possible.  From the Dispatch blog:

Fisher’s Senate campaign confirmed that he now supports gay marriage and released a statement from him stating as much: “The government should be focused on creating jobs, lowering health care costs and moving us to alternative energy, instead of trying to stop individuals who want to be in a committed relationship and take responsibility for each other,” Fisher said.

Honestly, I am thrilled to have Fisher on the marriage equality train — although I’d appreciate a more straight-forward endorsement of marriage equality than he gave today — but if Fisher wants to be one of Ohio’s leaders, rather than a follower, he should probably start showing Ohioans some leadership.

A big campaign warchest does not a winner make.  Just ask Terry McAuliffe.

Ohioans want a leader to join Sherrod Brown in the Senate.  Both candidates have the next 11 months to show us their ability to provide Democratic leadership that all Ohioans will then support in the fall.

It would be best to start now.

[H/T to @jtwill84]

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