Nearly 2 years later, first same-sex couple married in Arkansas get names changed

Social Security slow for two gays

Kristin Seaton (left) and Jennifer Rambo laugh as Jane Osborn, Carroll County Deputy County Clerk, issued the couple their marriage license May 10, 2014, at the Carroll County Courthouse in Eureka Springs. The couple was the first same-sex couple to have their marriage license issued in Arkansas.
Kristin Seaton (left) and Jennifer Rambo laugh as Jane Osborn, Carroll County Deputy County Clerk, issued the couple their marriage license May 10, 2014, at the Carroll County Courthouse in Eureka Springs. The couple was the first same-sex couple to have their marriage license issued in Arkansas.

The first same-sex couple married in Arkansas finally got their names changed Tuesday at the Social Security Administration in Fort Smith.

Jennifer Seaton-Rambo said it took five tries over almost two years to get their separate last names officially hyphenated. Meanwhile, other same-sex couples were able to get their names changed at other Social Security offices in Arkansas, she said.

"They kept saying they didn't have approval," Jennifer said. "We really didn't know who the approval was supposed to come from."

Jennifer and her spouse, Kristin Seaton-Rambo, left copies of their marriage and driver's licenses with a clerk at the Social Security office in Fort Smith in September 2014 and checked periodically afterwards.

"They kept our paperwork and assured us they would process our name change as soon as they got word of approval," Jennifer said. "Well, that never happened."

When the couple went back to the office Monday to check on the applications, they were told the documents apparently had been destroyed, said Jennifer.

They went back Tuesday with the appropriate documents and reapplied "like it was a brand new thing," and their application was processed then, said Jennifer.

"We just kept having faith in the town we're living in, and they finally came through," she said. "We deserve it like everyone else, so we just kept trying here at our local office."

"I am thankful that our last names finally got changed," Kristin said. "Saddened, however, that we had to wait this long to be treated equally."

If there was any discrimination against them, it wasn't coming from the clerks, Jennifer said.

"The workers, the clerks, were not discriminating against us," she said. "It seems like it was the system. ... When they're all so kind, and yet they're denying you, it's frustrating. It's like, 'What is wrong with us? Why can't we get this done?'"

The Social Security office in Fort Smith was closed Wednesday afternoon and no one could be reached for comment.

Cheryl Maples of Heber Springs, the attorney who filed a lawsuit that led to the first same-sex marriages in Arkansas, said she was surprised to hear it took the Seaton-Rambos so long to get their names changed.

Maples said most Social Security offices in Arkansas started processing the name changes last summer, shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled same-sex marriages legal nationwide June 26, 2015.

"We ran into a problem for quite a while with the Social Security Administration, but it finally got ironed out," Maples said. "Even though the marriages were legal, they were resisting changing anyone's name on Social Security cards."

Jennifer said new Social Security cards are to be mailed to them within the next 10 days. Then they can get new driver's licenses and change their names on other documents.

She said they may travel internationally soon, so they'll need to update their passports. And they want to have a family at some point.

"There is, of course, that sense of legal protection," said Jennifer. "I feel a sense of security."

On May 10, 2014, Kristin Seaton and Jennifer Rambo drove from Little Rock to Eureka Springs, arriving at 2:30 a.m. and sleeping in the car to be the first in line when the Carroll County Courthouse opened that morning.

A Pulaski County Circuit Court ruling late on May 9, 2014, made same-sex marriages legal in Arkansas. The next day was a Saturday, and the Eureka Springs courthouse is the only one in Arkansas that is open on Saturdays to issue marriage licenses.

Immediately after receiving their license, Seaton and Rambo were married on the sidewalk in front of the courthouse.

A little over a year later, the U.S. Supreme Court made same-sex marriages legal across the country.

Now the couple live near Bonanza, just south of Fort Smith. They operate a business in Barling selling frozen ice desserts: Shave Ice Delights: Seaton-Rambo Trolley.

Jennifer got a bachelor's degree in English in December from the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith. Kristin is working on a master's degree in information technology through the University of Central Arkansas' online program.

Metro on 07/28/2016

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