COLUMBUS - Two Ohio judges have issued differing rulings in the past week on whether the state's constitutional amendment banning gay marriage bars prosecutors from charging unmarried people with domestic violence.

A Franklin County judge on Friday decided against dismissing a domestic violence case, disagreeing with arguments that the law doesn't apply to unmarried couples.

..."In this court's view, the Ohio constitutional provision called the Marriage Amendment has a limited scope," Franklin County Common Pleas Judge Richard A. Frye ruled Friday.

Frye said previous court decisions about marriage do not discount that people living together can be considered family household members.

Frye's ruling came in the case of Terry Rodgers, 39, of Columbus, who is accused of beating his girlfriend in January. He is scheduled to go to trial in May.