When a child is born to a woman married to another woman, both women should be listed as parents on the child’s birth certificate. So ruled the Supreme Court, voting 6-3 and reversing a decision by the Arkansas Supreme Court on the last day of its October 2016 Term, which was coincidentally the second anniversary of the Court’s historic marriage equality ruling, Obergefell v. Hodges, 135 S. Ct. 2584 (2015), which provides the basis for … <Read More>
Arkansas Supreme Court
Arkansas Supreme Court Rules Fayetteville Anti-Discrimination Measure Violates State Law
Fayetteville has been a hotbed of LGBT rights advocacy, but on February 23 the Arkansas Supreme Court, reversing a ruling by Washington County Circuit Court Judge Doug Martin, found that the city and its voters had violated state law by adding “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” to their antidiscrimination ordinance. Protect Fayetteville & State of Arkansas v. City of Fayetteville, 2017 Ark. 49. Justice Josephine Linker Hart wrote the opinion for the unanimous court.
Responding … <Read More>
NCLR Seeks Supreme Court Review of Arkansas Birth Certificate Decision
The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) filed a petition for certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court on February 13, seeking review of the Arkansas Supreme Court’s decision that the state was not required under Obergefell v. Hodges, 135 S. Ct. 2584 (2015), to extend the presumption of parentage to the same-sex spouse of a birth mother for purposes of recording parentage on a birth certificate. Smith v. Pavan, 2016 WL 7156529 (Ark. … <Read More>
Arkansas Supreme Court Rejects Challenge to Discriminatory Birth Certificate Statutes
Although the U.S. Supreme Court issued a sweeping ruling for marriage equality in Obergefell v. Hodges on June 26, 2015, pockets of resistance remain in the states. The latest manifestation of this phenomenon comes from Arkansas, where the state’s Supreme Court ruled on December 8 by a 4-3 vote that same-sex couples do not enjoy the same constitutional rights as opposite sex couples when it comes to listing parents on birth certificates. In Smith v. … <Read More>
Arkansas Supreme Court Reverses Visitation Restriction on Gay Dad
A sharply divided Arkansas Supreme Court voted 4-3 to reverse the circuit court’s requirement that a gay dad’s same-sex partner not be present when he has overnight visitation with his youngest son. Finding that, contrary to the view of the circuit judge, Arkansas does not have a “blanket rule” requiring such a restriction, the Supreme Court sent the case back to the circuit court for a determination whether allowing the partner to be present would … <Read More>