Gay marriage in arkansas

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This legal status stems from a federal mandate that applies uniformly across all states. Sheet wedding cakes will be served. All states must license marriages between two people of the same sex and recognize such marriages lawfully performed in other states. Hodges.

gay marriage in arkansas

This was further solidified on November 2, 2004, when Arkansas voters approved Amendment 3, a state-initiated constitutional amendment. "And they know that they'll be welcome here and treated royally here and with love. While there was a brief period in May 2014 when a state judge in Wright v. I just wanted to be like, 'Hey you know we are the normal people, just like everyone else!'"

Three months earlier, Kristin had proposed to Jennifer, not knowing that a Little Rock judge would soon rule in their favor.

"To know that we could validate that feeling?" she said, "I still get goosebumps talking about it."

After receiving their wedding license, the women were officially married outside the courthouse.

This is not going to be our wedding date. 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.

Ozarks at Large transcripts are created on a rush deadline by reporters.

We made history."

And a year later, a narrow majority of U.S. Supreme Court Justices voted to legalize same-sex marriage in all fifty states. "So the word is out, across the country!"

Eureka Springs resident Zeek Taylor, a noted national media spokesperson for Eureka's LGBTQ+ community, will officiate the hour-long casual celebration in Basin Park tomorrow, delivering a speech, marrying couples, as well as renewing vows.

This isn't going to be a day of an anniversary, but this is just going to be a day where we solidified the joy and kind of took ownership of the fear," she said.

That fear of what could happen, even after a decade of marriage equality in the U.S., is something Professor Silverstein said is not unfounded.

"I think that Justice Thomas and Justice Alito would clearly vote to overturn Obergefell as soon as they get the chance to do so.

Hodges. This includes a wide array of legal protections and advantages. We say in Eureka Springs 'Love Wins for All!"

But with a majority-conservative U.S. Supreme Court currently, in control, LGBTQ+ advocates warn that a ruling by SCOTUS to overturn its 2015 decision to federally legalize same-sex marriage could be taken up as soon as next year.

"We are known as the 'wedding capital of the mid-South'," he said. On May 10, 2014, he and Keith Johnston too were licensed to marry.

"My husband and I, we were the 4th same-sex couple married in the South," Wilks said, "and we were the second male couple, married that day."

 That historic day continues to reverberate, Wilks says.

"I receive anywhere from 5 to 10 emails a week from couples looking to either resettle in Eureka, move up here, or ask about wedding facilities," he said.

As of June 26, 2015, same-sex couples have been able to obtain marriage licenses and have their marriages recognized throughout Arkansas. And the answer is, we just don't know," he said.

So in the meantime, Pride Month marches on. 

It's clear that the fight — or the riot — for equality is far from over.

"It is so much fun to celebrate with each other and wear our rainbows and be proud," Capek added.

When law enforcement stepped forward to secure the facility, the crowd grew agitated.

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Jennifer Seaton-Rambo

"You just made a bad mistake for this town!" one woman shouted, another woman sobbing, "I want to go home!"

But shortly after, Carroll County Deputy Clerk Jane Osborn took control of the situation, reopening the shuttered office and cheerfully began processing wedding licenses, handing a certificate to the first couple in line: River Valley residents Jennifer Rambo and Kristin Seaton.

"Here's your pretty little license," Osborn said, smiling.

We spoke with both Jennifer and Kristin Seaton-Rambo earlier this week about that fraught moment.

"I remember when the cop, before he slammed the door, he said, 'Step aside for the normal people to come through!' and that really hit home," she said. Accuracy and availability may vary. The event is hosted by the nonprofit Out in Eureka, directed by award-winning LGBTQ+ civil rights activist Jay Wilks.