Gay Marriage In Arkansas

Manplay.com has all the information you need to keep you updated with the most recent and interesting info concerning Arkansas gay marriage. From history to the future, we have all the most important information you need to understand about same-sex marriage in Arkansas. Things started off badly in Arkansas for gay couples, and eventually got better and better, bit by bit. There is still a lot of work that needs to be done to be on the level of other states in America. It is great that gay marriage is legal here, but now we need to make some more changes - we have to change laws that are attached to same-sex marriage, and we have to change the minds of the residents of Arkansas to ensure that things are safe for the future generations. The fact that only 1% of wedding businesses in Arkansas are same-sex friendly ones, makes it hard to even have a beautiful wedding.

Arkansas Gay Marriage History

In 1838, Arkansas first spoke out about homosexuality and said if you were caught in any type of homosexual activity, you would be prisoned if you were over the age of 21. In 2008, the population of Arkansas voted that same-sex couples could adopt children, and be foster parents for children. This went into effect on January 1st, 2009.

In 1997, the Arkansas General Assembly banned same-sex marriage and getting married out of state and coming back in as a gay married couple. On June 27th, 2013, there was a vote to make sure that the ban on gay marriage would be dropped. The idea was denied. In 2014, in July, August, September and October, the idea was pitched to the legislature and every single time, it was denied. Finally, in November, it was accepted. There were plenty of lawsuits made against the state court about how the ban against same-sex marriage went against the Arkansas Constitution. There was a complaint that the ban against gay married was discrimination of sex. A couple who had been wed during a “window marriage" (A same-sex marriage that had been performed in between two separate gay marriage bans.). There was a small town in Arkansas called Eureka Springs. This was the only place in the state from 2007-2012 where you were able to become a gay civil partnership. Arkansas gay marriage was legalized on June 26th, 2015. Before this date, same-sex marriage was legal once before in Arkansas in November 2014, but ended extremely quickly. Gay marriage was banned in 2014 until legalized in 2015. To this day, there are no hate crime laws, which means that if someone is harassing, violating, or creates damage on another’s property based on sexual orientation, there will be no consequences.

Arkansas Gay Marriage Statistics

Before same-sex marriage was ever legal in Arkansas, 600 gay couples were issued marriage licenses. There were three counties in Arkansas who refused to issue marriage licenses even after gay marriage was legal in 2015. 85% of gay married couples say that they would not be comfortable having a child in Arkansas. 5% have a child. 3% of the Arkansas population are in a same-sex marriage. There have been 56 crimes against gay couples in the last year. Out of all the wedding businesses, 1% is made up of same-sex friendly ones.

The Current Status Of Arkansas Gay Marriage

The current status in Arkansas when it comes to same-sex marriage isn’t very good. The fact that gay marriage is legal in Arkansas is great, but the attitude towards it isn’t. There aren’t many supporters who live in this state, which make them question how same-sex marriage is even legal. Barack Obama and his team made sure that same-sex marriage would be legal in every single state by the time he was out of office, and that’s what he did. There has been so much back and forth in Arkansas concerning gay marriage, that it wouldn’t be a surprise if this law was taken away, again. There are a lot of people currently working against it and trying to make sure that it gets taken down. Since that is going on, it creates stress for the gay couples and gay married couples. For gay couples, when they hear these allegations that one day soon they will not be able to get a marriage license, it creates concern. This causes couples to get married quickly so that they won’t lose their window. (Though they could always go to another state.) Some couples cannot afford to travel out of their state, which means that they have to get married in their home, and quick. This isn’t the first choice of same-sex married couples to live. There are lots of risks having a family here as a gay couple. There is still discrimination, and bad things still do happen.

The Future Status of Arkansas Gay Marriage

The future of gay marriage in Arkansas isn’t as bright as we would hope. There are a lot of people who are still stuck in their own heads, while everything and everyone in the surrounding states are changing in a great way. How come things are so stuck in the past in the more southern states? A lot of the time southern states have tons of small towns, and when you only know/have seen a selected amount of people, it’s hard to open your mind to anything else that is out there. Growing up in a small town means that there wouldn’t be a huge population of gay people, which makes being gay different to a small town. It’s hard to understand what you don’t know and it’s easy to hate what you don’t understand. As time goes on, same-sex marriage will be more understood by people across Arkansas and across the United States, but for now, things aren’t as good as we hope for them to be one day. Though a lot of people aren’t anti-gay marriage, they still believe that marriage is between only a man and a woman. It is a hope of pro same-sex marriage advocates that things continue evolving in a positive direction.

To learn more about same-sex marriage in the United States, CLICK HERE and to learn more about gay marriage in other states like Alabama, CLICK HERE

The following links will help on your search to find out more about Arkansas Gay Marriage