Arkansas’ Marriage Amendment Not Going Away Anytime Soon

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Tuesday, July 9, 2013

On Tuesday, a group filed a constitutional amendment with the Attorney General seeking to remove Arkansas’ ban on same-sex marriage. Family Council President Jerry Cox issued a statement in response to the amendment.

“This is about redefining marriage in Arkansas,” Cox said. “This writes same-sex marriage into our constitution. Arkansans voted overwhelmingly in 2004 to define marriage as the union of a man and a woman. Almost one out of ten adults in Arkansas signed the petition to place Amendment 83 on the ballot. Seventy-five percent of voters voted for the amendment. I do not know of any other ballot issue in recent history that had so much support.”

Cox said support for traditional marriage is bipartisan. “When seventy-five percent of voters support something, you know it’s more than just Republicans or just Democrats making their voices heard. Governor Beebe has gone on record saying he supports marriage as the union of one man to one woman. Former-Governor Huckabee has said he supports that definition also. The Arkansas Senate and the Arkansas House of Representatives both voted this year to pass resolutions affirming their support for marriage as the union of a man and a woman. If there’s disagreement as to what a marriage ought to be in Arkansas, it’s outside the mainstream.”

Cox said the definition of marriage is a serious issue for Arkansans. “How we define marriage helps set the foundation for our society. We’ve seen how shaken that foundation has become in the past few decades as some people have marginalized marriage’s significance. Redefining marriage further would only inject more instability.”

Cox said he does not believe voters will change the definition of marriage in Arkansas anytime soon. “I think most Arkansans feel like we’ve already had this discussion. They’ve heard the arguments for and against same-sex marriage, and they’ve voted to keep marriage the way it’s been in this country for over two hundred years. There aren’t really any fresh arguments for redefining marriage, so I do not see Arkansans voting to do so anytime soon.”

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Polygamists Hope to Benefit from Efforts to Redefine Marriage

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Last week Family Research Council President Tony Perkins pointed out that the Supreme Court’s decision on the federal Defense of Marriage Act had absolutely no effect on state marriage laws. Thirty-eight states still had laws defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Twelve had laws defining it differently. Nothing was changed.

If homosexual activists were looking for a landmark victory redefining marriage nationwide, it didn’t come. What was interesting, however, was  how emboldened polygamists were by the ruling.

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Gay Activists Ask Court to Strike Arkansas’ Marriage Amendment

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Wednesday, July 3, 2013

LITTLE ROCK – On Wednesday, Family Council President Jerry Cox released a statement regarding a lawsuit filed in Pulaski County Circuit Court to overturn Amendment 83 to the Arkansas Constitution defining marriage as the union of one man to one woman.

“In 2004, Arkansas voters were asked whether or not they wanted to define marriage in the State of Arkansas as the union of one man and one woman,” Cox said. “Seventy- five percent of voters said that’s how they wanted to define it. Nearly a decade has passed, and now a group has filed a lawsuit to strike down the marriage amendment voters passed in that election.”

Cox said this lawsuit flies in the face of democracy. “The Arkansas Marriage Amendment is about as democratic a measure as you can get. Nearly one in ten adults in Arkansas signed the petition to let Arkansans vote on the issue. Hundreds of volunteers mobilized to gather those signatures. Over three-quarters of a million voters voted to make marriage the union of one man and one woman. I cannot find a single ballot issue that passed by a wider margin in recent history. This lawsuit is an attempt to disenfranchise those hundreds of thousands of voters.”

Cox said he believes the lawsuit has very little substance. “Looking at what was filed yesterday, it looks like the plaintiffs are simply throwing a bunch of arguments at Amendment 83, hoping something sticks. They’re asserting that Amendment 83 is somehow inconsistent with the rest of the Arkansas Constitution. As a former Government  teacher, I can tell you that’s virtually impossible. If a constitutional amendment is somehow ‘inconsistent’ with the rest of the constitution, the amendment wins out.”

Cox said he believes this lawsuit is being spurred by last week’s Supreme Court ruling that struck a section of the federal Defense of Marriage Act. “Gay activists were betting on a landmark victory before the Supreme Court last week. They didn’t get it. Instead they got a partial victory and a partial defeat, with the court striking a portion of DOMA and refusing to weigh in on state marriage amendments as a whole. They’ve had some victories with state courts in California and elsewhere, though, so it’s no surprise they would turn to state court for a change.”

Cox said his organization will continue monitoring any developments related to marriage in Arkansas.

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