Lawsuit To Challenge Arkansas Same-Sex Marriage Ban Filed
by July 3, 2013 7:52 am 114 views
Less than a week after a gay rights group submitted the wording for a proposed ballot measure that would repeal the 2004 state constitutional amendment that banned same-sex marriage, a gay couple has filed a lawsuit to challenge the law.
The lawsuit, filed in Pulaski County Circuit Court, challenges Amendment 83, Arkansas’ constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.
Rob Moritz with our content partner, the Arkansas News Bureau, reports:
The lawsuit by White County residents Kendall and Julia Wright argues that the 2004 constitutional amendment, which received 75 percent of the popular vote, violates their constitutional rights.
“The plaintiffs seek a declaratory judgment finding the unequal treatment of homosexuals set forth (in Amendment 83) … to be unconstitutional and facially invalid due to their narrow focus on denying the class of homosexuals the right to be married and/or the right to have their legal marriage recognized by the state of Arkansas,” the couple argued in the lawsuit.
The lesbian couple, who have two children, were legally married in Des Moines, Iowa, on March 8, following a 2008 marriage ceremony at a church in Arkansas, according to the lawsuit.
Read more on the story at this link.