Ohio Supreme Court Justice Paul E. Pfeifer revealed yesterday that he has a lesbian daughter who has two children with her partner, saying he's worried about their legal rights and that "it helps to have public figures acknowledge this is a problem for families."

Like many grandfathers, Ohio Supreme Court Justice Paul E. Pfeifer treasures his two grandchildren and is prone to spoiling them.

But, there�s an overarching legal problem that needs to be fixed, said the court�s senior justice, a Republican with 22 years serving on the bench.

�We�re just delighted to have these little kids as grandchildren but, legally, they are not, and that�s a problem,� Pfeifer said in an interview with The Dispatchyesterday in which he disclosed that his daughter is a lesbian.

�I have the same family situation as (Jim) Petro and Rob Portman. We have a daughter who has had a partner for a long time. We have two children we consider grandchildren, a girl, 9, and a boy, 5."

Pfeifer said that his daughter, Lisa Pfeifer, is a stay-at-home mom to her children. Her partner, Rachel Rubey, gave birth to the children, and the women are not married.

�I�m not working to lead any movement, nor are they, but it�s time for Ohio to step up and put us on a footing that is not hostile,� he said.

Following U.S. Sen. Rob Portman and Jim Petro, a former Ohio attorney general, Pfeifer became the third prominent Ohio Republican to disclose in the past two years that he has a child who is gay.

Pfeifer said he neither opposes nor supports gay marriage, but he believes state laws should be changed to spell out the legal rights of gay partners, their children and extended families.

�At a minimum, there should be some mechanism where a non-blood parent can go into court, just as some guy who sires children as the result of a Saturday night stand, for parental rights,� the justice said.

�The world view on this has changed, and there�s a practical problem that the prohibition (against gay marriage) presents for families and the courts.�

Pfeiffer said he felt a need to speak out for the first time after reading the dissenting opinion in the recent ruling by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholding the gay-marriage bans in Ohio and three other states.

The opinion, written by Judge Martha Craig �Cissy� Daughtrey, spoke of the children of couples whose status as parents is not legally recognized.

�The dissenting opinion was right,� Pfeifer said. �It�s really about the children. These kids are young, but as kids get to be teenagers, they are going to figure out the legalities of these relationships and, for some kids, that could be a real problem.�

Pfeifer said he never discussed with his daughter and her partner their stance on gay marriage. � They are like a lot of happy couples. They�re family.� The couple is openly gay, but they are not � activists,� he said.

Yesterday, as he testified before a panel examining updates to the Ohio Constitution, Pfeifer said that language on gay marriage � either pro or con � does not belong in the state�s foremost legal document.

�It probably ought to come out. It�s creating a mess. ... It�s a hot-button issue this commission needs to take a look at,� the justice told a committee of the Ohio Constitutional Modernization Commission.

�It doesn�t belong in the constitution. It should be back on the ballot,� he said afterward.

Pfeifer, who was not speaking on behalf of the other justices, suggested that Ohioans could repeal the ban on gay marriage approved by voters in 2004 and then leave the issue to a political solution by the General Assembly.

The U.S. Supreme Court, however, could take up the issue by next summer to resolve differing appeals court rulings after the 6th Circuit�s decision.

Speaking to the education and local government committee of the constitutional commission, Pfeifer said Ohio�s domestic-relations courts increasingly are being asked to deal with divorces and other issues involving same-sex couples who legally married in other states.

�Quietly, our courts are doing that� while being denounced by critics who say Ohio judges have no right to rule on such matters because gay marriage is not permitted in the state, Pfeifer said.

Pfeifer, 72, has two years remaining on the high court and is barred from running again because of the mandatory judicial retirement age of 70.

Phil Burress, head of Citizens for Community Values, the Cincinnati-based group that spearheaded the 2004 constitutional amendment, questioned the �liberal agenda� of Pfeifer, the most moderate of the court�s six Republicans, before the justice�s revelation.

�It belongs in the constitution because it�s a state-rights issue,� Burress said. �There�s no better example of state rights than to have the people vote on a particular issue, like they did on this one.�

Gay marriage now is legal in 33 states amid a flurry of federal court rulings, with the 6th Circuit the first federal appellate court to uphold prohibitions against same-sex marriage.

A statewide Dispatch Poll this month found that by 46 to 43 percent respondents oppose a proposal to repeal the gay-marriage ban currently gathering signatures to appear on the statewide ballot, probably in two years.

A decade ago, Ohioans voted 62 to 38 percent to define marriage in the Ohio Constitution as solely between one man and one woman.



rludlow@dispatch.com



@RandyLudlow