We’re Still Searching for the Couple Who’s Been Married the Longest

Marriage,

In February we plan to hold a reception at the Governor’s Mansion in Little Rock to honor the couple in Arkansas who has been married the longest. We also will recognize the nine other couples who have been married almost as long.

At this point, all the couples who are in the running for Arkansas’ Longest-Married Couple have been married more than 72 years. That’s truly amazing!

It’s not every day you meet a husband and wife who have been together more than 70 years, but when you do, there is something very special about it.

If you know a couple who has been married more than 72 years, I hope you will nominate them for Arkansas’ Longest-Married Couple by emailing Ken Yang at ken@familycouncil.org or calling the Family Council office at (501) 375-7000.

Photo Credit: By Jeff Belmonte from Cuiabá, Brazil (Flickr) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

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State Still Dealing With Fallout From Bad U.S. Supreme Court Ruling

Family, Marriage, ,

According to recent news reports, the State of Arkansas is still dealing with fallout from a bad ruling the U.S. Supreme Court issued last summer.

In June the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the State of Arkansas must list two “mothers” on a child’s birth certificate if the child’s birth mother is legally married to another woman. The ruling overturned a good decision the Arkansas Supreme Court handed down last December.

The State is currently struggling to come up with a way to amend its laws and comply with the Supreme Court’s order.

As we said last summer, the U.S. Supreme Court is asking Arkansas to ignore basic facts about biology. Birth certificates exist to record that a child was born and who the child’s biological parents are presumed to be.

As the Arkansas Supreme Court correctly noted last year, no child can have two biological mothers, but the Arkansas Department of Health is being forced to operate as if that is possible.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling treats the names that appear on birth certificates like some sort of marriage benefit. Birth certificates are issued for the sake of children — not for the sake of adults. They are not simply pieces of paper. They are vital records that need to be accurate and deserve respect. We should not let them become mere political ploys in the ongoing debates about marriage.

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WANTED: Arkansas’ Longest Married Couple

Marriage

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, November 10, 2017

LITTLE ROCK, AR – For the first time ever, Arkansas Family Council is launching a search for Arkansas’ Longest Married Couple. We want couples to share their stories of a lifetime commitment to marriage and family. When the search ends in early February 2018, Family Council will honor the longest married couple and their family. The Top Ten Longest Married Couples will also be honored by receiving an Official Statement of Recognition and they will be entered into the Family Council “Arkansas Marriage Hall of Fame.”

“Sharing these couples’ lifetime stories of commitment and faithfulness to each other encourages the next generation that ‘married happily ever after’ still exists. We are blessed and honored to be able to share these stories of forever love,” Jerry Cox, president of Family Council, said. “In today’s society we are surrounded by naysayers of marriage but the married couples we find will prove them all wrong and show that marriage can last a lifetime.”

“Marriage is a sacred covenant between a man and a woman,” Cox said. “It is not every day that you meet a couple married over 70 years, but when you do, there is truly something special about that relationship.”

Entries for couples married over 70 years can be submitted before February 2, 2018, by sending contact information and marriage date to ken@familycouncil.org. For more information, please call the Family Council office at 501-375-7000.

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