Eight more same-sex couples, two of them legally married outside of Arkansas, have joined a three-week-old Pulaski County Circuit Court lawsuit aimed at overturning laws that bar legal recognition of their unions.
The lawsuit, which names as defendants Gov. Mike Beebe, Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, the state Health Department and six county clerks, was also expanded Sunday to add a fifth complaint and more language to describe the benefits that recognition of marriage brings. The defendants have yet to respond to the suit.
According to the suit, rights granted by marriage, but denied to gay couples, include “the right to be financially supported; the right to an equitable division of property … in the event of divorce; the right to inherit … the right to receive certain benefits from the … government … the right to claim an evidentiary privilege for marital communications.”
“Additionally, marriage grants a right to priority in being appointed guardian of an incapacitated spouse; the right to be recognized as having priority in health decisions for an incapacitated spouse and a priority in the right to claim a deceased spouse’s body. Marriage most importantly grants the children born or adopted of the union legitimacy and grants both parents rightsand responsibilities to those children.”
The new plaintiffs bring the total of 36 adults - 18 couples, six of them legally married elsewhere - who are challenging the legality of a nine-year-old state Constitutional amendment and 16-year-old statutes that prohibits gay marriage in Arkansas. The amended suit, which has grown from 29 pages to 50, also delineates between marriage as a civil institution and a religious sacrament.
The new complaint in the expanded suit claims laws barring gay marriage are illegal because they conflict with Article 2 of the Arkansas Constitution, which prohibits laws “impairing the obligation of contracts.” Arkansas laws recognize marriage as a contract but bars recognition of wedlock between samesex couples who have legitimately entered into those contracts in other states andnations, according to the suit.
The lawsuit also challenges the legality of gay-marriage bans on the grounds of denial of due process and equal protection promised in both state and federal constitutions as well as a violation of the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the U.S. Constitution.
The additional plaintiffs are Jonathan K. Gober, 34, and Mark R. Norwine, 54, of Pulaski County; Angela Alsbury, 37, and Amber Gardner-Alsbury, 30, of Washington County; Angela Spears Gullette, 36, and Livicie C. Gullette, 38, of Lonoke County; Shannon Havens andRachel Whittenburg, both 34 and from Pulaski County; Cody Renegar, 37, and Thomas Staed, 30, of Washington County; Katherine Henson, 41, and Angelia Buford, 37, of Pulaski County; Christopher H. Horton, 38, and Michael E. Potts, 45, of Saline County; and John Schenck and Robert Loyd, both 63, of Faulkner County.
They are represented by attorney Cheryl Maples of Searcy.
Three same-sex couples from Pulaski County, represented by the Wagoner Law Firm of Little Rock, filed a lawsuit in federal court last week to challenge the constitutionality of the state’s gay-marriage ban. That suit is the second filed since U.S.Supreme Court’s ruling earlier this month on the federal Defense of Marriage Act, which has the effect of extending federal recognition of marriage to legally wed same-sex couples.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 07/23/2013