Arkansas law gay
Arkansas court rules metropolis can't enforce LGBTQ protections
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas' utmost court on Thursday said a municipality can't enforce its ordinance banning discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, saying it's already ruled the measure violates a state law aimed at preventing local protections for LGBTQ people.
The state Supreme Court unanimously reversed a Washington County judge's decision to allow Fayetteville to continue enforcing its anti-discrimination ordinance while the city challenged the constitutionality of a 2015 regulation preventing cities and counties from enacting protections not covered by state statute. Arkansas' civil rights law doesn't cover sexual orientation or gender identity.
The court in 2017 commanded the ordinance violated the state rule. Citing that judgment, justices on Thursday reversed Judge Doug Martin's ruling and dismissed the case. In Thursday's decree and the previous decision, the court did not regulation on whether the state law was constitutional.
"Because the circuit court exceeded its jurisdiction on remand, its actions tracking remand are void," Justice Robin Wynne wrote. "The arrange denying the preliminary injunction is re
About Us
The state of Arkansas has a controversial history, along with many other states, regarding laws and policy toward LGBT individuals. Today, even though many of these laws possess been overturned, are unenforced, or have been changed, there are still rights and protections for LGBT Arkansas residents still to be won. Today, LGBT people in Arkansas tackle legal challenges that are not experienced by non-LGBT people. What follows is a brief history of LGBT law and policy in the state of Arkansas.
What the Law Says about Being LGBT in Arkansas
From early in its history, LGBT people were singled out and discriminated against in Arkansas commandment – homosexuals in particular. As early as 1838, Arkansas instituted a statute stating that any person convicted of “sodomy or buggery” would be imprisoned for a period of time ranging between 1-21 years. This statute remained on the books unchanged for more than a century before being amended in 1977. The amendment clarified the statute to penalize only homosexual acts or sexual acts between humans and animals, while also reduced the ask for from a criminal attack to a misdemeanor.
This 1977 amendment remained until the early 2000’s, when a s
Arkansas Among States Leading Nation in Anti-LGBTQ+ Legislation
The state of Arkansas is among 23 states considered unaccepting towards LGBTQ+ equality.
The Human Rights Campaign recently released its State Equality Index, an annual state-by-state report that reviews statewide laws and policies that affect LGBTQ+ people and their families. Arkansas was categorized, “high priority to achieve basic equality,” the index’s lowest ranking.
“I think it’s a sign of where we are socially and culturally,” said Cathryn Oakley, senior director for legal policy at the Human Rights Campaign. “When people see those states, including Arkansas, in the bottom collective I don’t reflect anybody is surprised.”
Arkansas lawmakers passed a number of laws in last year’s legislative session restricting the rights and conduct of Gay people. Those involve banning teachers from referring to students by preferred pronouns, as well as a bill limiting “adult-oriented” performances in the state. According to Oakley, this is part of a concerted legislative attack on the LGBTQ+ community nationwide.
“This is really a pivot from where we were in 2019,” says Oakley. “The report tells a story of where the opp
Employment Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Individuality in Arkansas
Executive Summary
More than 4% of the American workforce identifies as sapphic, gay, bisexual, or gender nonconforming (LGBT). Approximately 47,000 of these workers live in Arkansas. Arkansas does not have a statewide commandment that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity in both public and private sector employment.
This report summarizes recent evidence of sexual orientation and gender identity employment discrimination, explains the limited current protections from sexual orientation and gender culture employment discrimination in Arkansas, and estimates the administrative impact of passing a law prohibiting employment discrimination based on these characteristics in the state.
Key Findings
- In total there are over 80,000 LGBT adults in Arkansas, including over 47,000 who are part of Arkansas’s workforce.
- Recent survey statistics from Arkansas indicate discrimination and negative attitudes toward LGBT people in the workplace. In response to a 2014 survey of nearly 1,000 LGBT people from Arkansas, 25% of respondents reported experiencing employment discrimination, an
Cole v. Arkansas: LGBTQ Equality in Parenting
VICTORY! Cole v. Arkansas challenged Act 1 of 2008, a ballot initiative that prohibited fostering or adoption of children by unmarried couples; since Arkansas did not realize the marriage of queer couples, this included not only unmarried same-sex couples, but same-sex couples married elsewhere. The intent of the law was to categorically ban same sex couples from consideration, without regard to the needs or relationships of the child to the potential foster or adoptive parents, or their suitability as parents.
In 2011, the Arkansas Supreme Court unanimously voted to strike down Perform 1.
Participating in the case were 20 individuals from nine different families, including a lesbian who lived with her partner of nine years and was the only relative qualified and willing to adopt her grandchild, then in Arkansas state care, and several married heterosexual couples who had relatives or friends they wanted to be able to adopt their children if both parents died, but who were disqualified by Operate 1.
Status: Years before the U.S. Supreme Court finally recognized the right of same-sex couples to partner , the ACLU case guaranteed that s