Couples flock to courthouse in LR

5/12/14
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/STEPHEN B. THORNTON
The Rev. Jennie Barrington, center, gets bear hug from Malleri Rhodes, left, and Jenna LaMaster, right, after Barrington married the couple at the Pulaski County Courthouse in Little Rock, Ark. Monday May 12, 2014.
PLEASE OUT; APNewsNow-Little Rock market, TV-Little Rock market, Radio-Little Rock market, Online-Nationwide market, Arkansas Business, Arkansas Times.

5/12/14 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/STEPHEN B. THORNTON The Rev. Jennie Barrington, center, gets bear hug from Malleri Rhodes, left, and Jenna LaMaster, right, after Barrington married the couple at the Pulaski County Courthouse in Little Rock, Ark. Monday May 12, 2014. PLEASE OUT; APNewsNow-Little Rock market, TV-Little Rock market, Radio-Little Rock market, Online-Nationwide market, Arkansas Business, Arkansas Times.

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Jonathan Keith Gober and his fiance raced to Eureka Springs to get married Saturday after being together for a decade -- only to have the county clerk's office close as they were sixth in line.

"We were fearful a stay would be issued over the weekend and we wouldn't be able to [get married] in Pulaski County today," he said.

On Monday, Gober, 35, and Mark Norwine, 51, gave it a second shot. Deciding to stake it out, the Little Rock couple stayed at the Doubletree Hotel overnight, and at 2 a.m., Gober lined up behind four other same-sex couples waiting to get marriage licenses from the Pulaski County Courthouse.

"We didn't want anything to conflict," Gober said. "We didn't want any traffic or a car getting a flat tire. We just wanted to get as close as possible to the courthouse."

The couple was among the plaintiffs in the lawsuit in which Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza on Friday overturned the state's ban on gay marriage. They were joined Monday by more than 100 other couples hoping to get married.

A stream of people slowly made their way into the courthouse just before the office opened at 8 a.m., as the Human Rights Campaign, the plaintiffs' attorneys and one of the couples urged on the crowd.

"Today, wedding bells are ringing in the great state of Arkansas," Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin said.

The bystanders — hundreds of same-sex couples and gay-rights supporters — cheered as they listened in and as the occasional motorist honked in support.

Even before the clerk's office opened, county employees issued numbers and application forms to the couples. A Dallas, Texas, couple — Shelly Butler, 51, and Susan Barr, 48 — received the first number and were the first to be issued a marriage license.

Butler had been in the state for Mother's Day when she heard about Piazza's ruling. She rushed back to Dallas to get Barr and hurried to Little Rock.

On Monday, a Pulaski County clerk employee reviewed their application and turned over a license to the couple, who raised it up proudly. Moments later, officiant Joey Cole joked with the two, "You want the short version, right?"

Barr clutched Butler's hand that rested on her shoulder. Barr looked down at her new spouse as she said, "I do," and Cole pronounced them married. The two had been together since 1985 when they met at Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia.

They weren't the only ones driving up Interstate 30.

Others — mostly Texans — seeking same-sex marriage licenses had called and even visited the Miller County clerk's office in Texarkana — 140 miles southwest of the state capital — on Monday, Clerk Ann Nicholas said.

The five deputy clerks there received more than 50 calls and had a handful of couples waiting at the courthouse when Nicholas arrived Monday morning.

"I sent them on to Little Rock," she said.

Nicholas issued a statement saying her office would not grant licenses because Miller County was not one of the six counties named in the original lawsuit.

In counties issuing same-sex marriage licenses, county clerks called in more employees to help with the influx of people. Washington County doubled its staff Monday, while Pulaski County nearly quadrupled its.

"Off the top of my head, a week or two ago, for the week, we had done an extraordinary amount," said Pulaski County Clerk Larry Crane. "We did 83 [that week.] We called in every spare staff member."

Monday alone, they more than doubled that.

Crane watched as the first crowds died down about noon but couples still came in through the end of the day.

"You know, I'm 64 years old, and it is common for older men to learn how to cry," Crane said. "And today, probably at least 10 times, I teared up. That's how I feel."

The county got through the day with only one hiccup, he said.

The county's software provider for the marriage license data, forms and printing had installed a new system that would allow for gender-neutral alternatives on the certificates, instead of just traditional ones, Crane said. Most of the software was installed by 7:30 a.m. Monday, but one part was overlooked, preventing the first few couples from receiving a finalized copy for about an hour, he said.

That was the case for the first Arkansas couple to get married: Thomas Baldwin, 37, and Devin Rudeseal, 24.

The Bryant couple started the line at the Pulaski County courthouse at midnight, after having talked it through over the weekend.

"'I know it starts at 8 [a.m.], but do you want to be in the first few people? Do you want to be the first person?,'" Baldwin said he asked Rudeseal.

The couple, who had been together for three years, changed their original plans and married Monday.

"We met on May 17," Baldwin said. "I proposed to him the next year on May 17. Our plan was to get married this year on May 17 [but] that didn't work out because of everything that's going on."

The two plan on having a ceremony next year on that same date and hope to have adopted children by then, he said.

"This is our happily ever after," Baldwin said.

For Gober, the marriage hasn't quite sunk in yet.

"It's a phenomenal feeling," he said. "I keep struggling with, 'Is this real?'"

When he and Norwine learned of Piazza's ruling on Friday, Norwine got down on one knee and proposed to him at their gym — Clubhaus Fitness. It was the second — and "official" — proposal, he said.

They had previously considered going to another state to marry, but instead were able to do so in their home state Monday.

"It was like an experience out of this world," Gober said. "[I was] just ecstatic, happy — just an amazing experience. And just kind of a sense of relief — like finally, like I can breathe."

Information for this article was contributed by Kenneth Heard of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Justices asked to stay ruling

Metro on 05/13/2014