Sen. Rob Portman Glad Same Sex Marriage Left To States

Ohio’s Junior U.S. Senator Rob Portman supports the U.S. Supreme Court decision against the federal Defense of Marriage Act or DOMA. Portman says while he would have preferred Congress repeal DOMA he supports gay marriage. "I do believe that gay couples should have the opportunity to be married in a civil ceremony. I'm not suggesting that churches should be required to perform or recognize marriages, but I do think that marriage ought to be allowed. So in Ohio where we currently have a ban, I would support changing that ban." Ohio's ban on same-sex marriage passed in 2004 by a 62-to-38 percent margin. Opponents of the ban have been gathering petition signatures with hope of putting a repeal before voters. During a teleconference today, Portman also discussed immigration. He says he’s frustrated with the slow progress of the immigration reform bill and he won’t vote for it without his amendment to better monitor U.S. employers who hire illegals. Portman’s amendment is about including e-verify, a federal database that employers can use to check the legal status of a prospective employee. “The workplace will be the place where we will enforce our laws and therefore we won’t have a repeat of 1986 when Congress passed a legalization without strong workplace protection and we saw at the end of the day how that increased illegal immigration.â€? The U.S. Senate appears to be ready to approve an immigration bill, but it’s unclear what will happen in the U.S. House.