EUREKA SPRINGS -- There were four people in line Saturday when the Carroll County Courthouse opened at 9 a.m. to issue marriage licenses for four hours.
Last year, on May 10 -- the first day gay couples could get marriage licenses in Arkansas' history -- there were about 100 people on the Eureka Springs courthouse steps when the doors opened. Several had driven from neighboring states. Some had slept in their cars on Main Street. Sheriff's deputies had to be sent in to control the crowd. One octogenarian shook his cane at a deputy clerk.
There was a sense of urgency because any day the Arkansas Supreme Court could halt the issuing of marriage licenses to gay couples, and it did -- on May 16, 2014.
That halt remained in place until Friday, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that states can't prohibit same-sex marriage, and the Arkansas Supreme Court acquiesced.
County clerks across Arkansas began issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples Friday. Three were issued in Carroll County on Friday. Twelve were issued in Pulaski County, which appeared to be the most issued by any county in the state that day.
Eureka Springs has the distinction of being the only city in Arkansas where people can get marriage licenses on Saturdays. Being a tourist town, people sometimes get married on a whim. And romance can generate revenue. The licenses cost $60.
May 10, 2014, happened to be a Saturday. So Eureka Springs was unusually popular that day with gay couples who wanted marriage licenses. Fifteen marriage licenses were issued to same-sex couples that day. Others were turned away, because the office closes at 1 p.m. on Saturdays.
On the most recent Saturday, the demand for same-sex licenses wasn't as great.
Sherry Cochrane, a deputy Carroll County clerk, said she sold about 30 marriage licenses Saturday. Only two went to same-sex couples.
"Saturdays are usually like this," said Cochrane. "It was a little bit busier than usual, because it's June."
The first two couples in line were of the opposite-sex variety.
Christina Adkins, 23, and Matthew West, 26, of Holiday Island were first in line. They arrived 30 minutes early to beat the crowd. But there wasn't one.
"I expected there to be more people," said Adkins. "He did not," she said, nodding to West.
They planned to have a wedding ceremony Saturday afternoon at Judge Roy Bean's Old Time Photos across Main Street from the courthouse. Attire would be Western, Adkins said.
A gay couple from Compton got their marriage license Saturday in Eureka Springs and were married on the sidewalk in front of the courthouse by Glen Couvillion, a minister from the Universal Life Church. They'd been waiting for 49 years.
Dennis Leonard, 79, said he didn't want to get married last year, when a Pulaski County Circuit Court ruling opened the door to same-sex marriage for one week.
Leonard said he wanted to make sure his marriage was legal, and he wasn't sure the licenses issued last year would be legal.
Leonard married Henry Byers, 74. The couple previously lived in Washington, D.C., where they were typesetters for the National Geographic Society. Leonard is originally from Conway, and Byers is from Pennsylvania.
"We are now OK with society," said Leonard. "We felt like outcasts for many, many years. This makes us feel less of an outcast."
Another same-sex couple who got a license Saturday said they'd been together for 36 years, but beyond that they didn't want to be quoted.
Bob Thomas, a Eureka Springs alderman, was at the door of the courthouse Saturday to greet people arriving to get their marriage licenses. He carried a sign that read "Welcome to Eureka Springs, Arkansas. Now serving everyone equally. We have been waiting for you to get here. And we are tickled pink that you finally made it."
Thomas said it appeared that the rush for same-sex couples to get married was over.
"That's the price for normality," he said. "If you can do it any day you want, anywhere you want, there's no reason to rush over here. You have all the opportunities that heterosexuals have."
Thomas said much of Eureka Springs' gay community was in Fayetteville on Saturday morning for the Northwest Arkansas Pride Parade.
Kathi Cline, 55, of Oklahoma City was in line Saturday to get a license to marry Jimmy Fitzgerald, 66.
Cline said she was moved by the Supreme Court decision and the fact that some gay couples were getting licenses in Eureka Springs on Saturday.
"I think it's about time," she said. "I hope they have a fabulous honeymoon, and they're very happy. It's a miracle."
Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza ruled May 9, 2014, that Arkansas' ban on same-sex marriages violated the state and federal constitutions. Over the next few days, clerks in Pulaski, Washington, Carroll, Saline and Marion counties issued marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
After the state filed an appeal, the Arkansas Supreme Court suspended Piazza's ruling on May 16, 2014, and halted clerks from continuing to issue licenses to gay couples. The Arkansas Supreme Court dismissed that appeal Friday, saying the U.S. Supreme Court decision that morning made the appeal moot.
The parties had been waiting for the Arkansas court's decision since November, when oral arguments were made.
On June 9, Pulaski County Circuit Judge Wendell Griffen ruled that state marriage licenses issued to gay couples last year are just as valid as those issued to their heterosexual counterparts.
SundayMonday on 06/28/2015