Arkansas and gay marriage
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 notion 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 gay marriage licenses were issued last year after a Pulaski County Judge commanded 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
Federal Judge Strikes Down Arkansas’ Constitutional Ban on Marriage Equality
WASHINGTON – Today U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker struck down Arkansas’ ban on marriage equality, joining over three-dozen state and federal courts that have ruled such bans unconstitutional over the last year. In response to today’s ruling, Human Rights Campaign (HRC) president and native Arkansan Chad Griffin issued the tracking statement:
"More than five hundred committed and loving gay and lesbian couples own already married in the state of Arkansas, and two separate courts hold now both declared that the state's ban on marriage equality is unconstitutional. There's no allow for delaying justice even one more day. I am proud to be an Arkansan by birth, but I'll be even prouder when this shameful stain on the state Constitution is erased once and for all. Thanks to today's historic ruling and the courageous plaintiffs and attorneys who made it possible, that day is closer than ever before."
Judge Baker stayed the ruling, so no marriages will grab place while the state decides whether to appeal to the E
Judges Strike Down Arkansas, Mississippi Queer Marriage Bans
Federal judges on Tuesday struck down same-sex marriage bans in Mississippi and Arkansas, opening the door to gay nuptials in the Deep South. If their decisions stand, they could bring the number of states that allow gays and lesbians to wed to 37.
U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves in Mississippi said the state’s gay marriage ban violated same-sex couples the rights guaranteed under the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. He stayed his ruling for 14 days but also noted clerks could not issue same-sex attracted marriage licenses until further guidance was given from the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals or the U.S. Supreme Court (the 5th circuit is currently considering challenges to same-sex marriage bans from other states in its area).
"This court joins the vast majority of federal courts to conclude that same-sex couples and the children they boost are equal before the law," Reeves wrote in his belief. "The state of Mississippi cannot deny them the marriage rights and responsibilities it holds out to opposite-sex couples and their children."
Attorney General Jim Hood said the state would appeal the decision to the 5th Circ
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 Determine Chris Piazza to strike down Arkansas' ten-year-old voter-initiated constitutional ban on gay marriage on May 9th, 2014.
Anxious to obtain marriage licenses before the decree could be stayed, lgbtq+ couples from Arkansas and surrounding states traveled to the only county courthouse in Arkansas open for business on a Saturday in Eureka Springs, united 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
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Jennifer Seaton-Rambo
"You just made a bad mistake for this town!" one chick shouted, another woman sobbing, "I want to move hom