Gay marriage arkansas
Same-sex couples first to legally marry in Arkansas in 2014 commemorating 10th anniversary in Eureka Springs
In 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a federal law forbidding recognition of same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. That freed lower court justices including Pulaski County Circuit Evaluate Chris Piazza to strike down Arkansas' ten-year-old voter-initiated constitutional ban on queer marriage on May 9th, 2014.
Anxious to obtain marriage licenses before the decree could be stayed, queer couples from Arkansas and surrounding states traveled to the only county courthouse in Arkansas open for business on a Saturday in Eureka Springs, unified by family and friends along with state and national media. At 9 a.m., Carroll County Deputy Clerk Lana Gordon unlocked her office and announced to the more than 100 people assembled in the hallway and courthouse steps that she lacked the authority to issue same-sex marriage licenses. When law enforcement stepped forward to secure the facility, the crowd grew agitated.
Courtesy
/
Jennifer Seaton-Rambo
"You just made a bad mistake for this town!" one chick shouted, another woman sobbing, "I want to proceed hom
Arkansans React To Same-Sex Marriage Verdict, Clerks Issue Licenses
Same-sex couples are getting married in Arkansas after the U.S. Supreme Court issued a landmark ruling Friday that state same-sex marriage bans are unconstitutional.
The 5-to-4 decision has LGBT people in Arkansas rejoicing and state conservative groups lambasting the decision.
Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy issued the majority opinion in the case Obergefell v. Hodges. Kennedy's view says the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution compels states to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. It also says that states must realize the legality of same-sex marriage licenses issued in other states.
In Arkansas, more than 500 lgbtq+ marriage licenses were issued last year after a Pulaski County Judge dictated a state constitutional amendment defining marriage as being between one man and one woman was unconstitutional. Those marriage were halted after a one week period when the case was appealed to the Arkansas Supreme Court. The state's high court heard oral arguments, but never issued a ruling, perhaps waiting for the nation's high court to issue an opinion.
Immediately after the U.S. S
Marriage equality in Arkansas!
alphaboi8671
Arkansas :eek: just saw it’s first legal(ish) gay wedding today. I wonder how many more couples will get married before the state AG get’s the decision stayed (likely sometime Monday afternoon). I predict SCOTUS is going to issue a definitive decision once and for all by 2017 at the latest.
aceplace572
I’ve only seen reports of these 15 licenses issued. I’d guess they will all marry this weekend? There won’t be much moment before the Attorney General gets a stay.
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/gay-couples-arkansas-line-outside-courthouse
“Thank God,” Jennifer Rambo said after Carroll County Deputy Clerk Jane Osborn issued a marriage license to her and Kristin Seaton, a former volleyball player at the University of Arkansas. The Fort Smith couple wed moments later on a sidewalk near the courthouse; the officiant wore a rainbow-colored dress.
In total, 15 licenses were issued for same-sex couples in northwest Arkansas’ Carroll County, Osborn said.
bobot3
Congrats, Arkansas!
Is it wrong, for each time a State finally gives in, that I perceive “Another One Bites The Dust”?
No one bit the dust, just some outda
Arkansas Judge Strikes Down Ban on Lgbtq+ Marriage
An Arkansas decide on Friday declared the state's exclude on same-sex marriage unconstitutional, the second such ruling in the South.
Though certain to be appealed, Friday's decision is a victory for 21 gay and lesbian couples who challenged an Arkansas constitutional amendment, adopted by 75 percent of voters in 2004, stating that "marriage consists only of the union of one male and one woman."
Referring to the US Supreme Court's verdict in Loving v Virginia, the 1967 ruling that invalidated bans on inter-racial marriage, Pulaski County Circuit Court Evaluate Chris Piazza said, "It has been over forty years since Mildred Loving was given the right to join the person of her choice. The hatred and fears have long since vanished and she and her husband lived full lives together; so it will be for the same-sex couples.
"It is time to let that beacon of freedom illuminate brighter on all our brothers and sisters. We will be stronger for it," he wrote.
Four years ago, Assess Piazza ruled that a state prohibit on adoptions by unmarried couples violated a right to privacy, a decision that was affirmed by the Arkansas Supreme Court.
The state's Dem