History shades Arkansas’ gay marriage debate

By Associated Press

Published May 13, 2014 4:00am ET

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History shades Arkansas’ gay marriage debate — Washington County deputy county clerk Jennifer Sharpshair, far left, shows the competed marriage license to Diana Rister, second right, and Amy Grigg, third left, of Morrow, Ark., on Monday, May 12, 2014, while granddaughters Callie, 9, right, and Harley, 5, look on, in Fayetteville, Ark. Rister and Grigg, who said they've been together for 14 years, were the first in line after the county began issuing licenses to same-sex couples following a judge's ruling overturning the state's ban. (AP Photos/Kurt Voigt) | Kurt Voigt

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Fifty-seven years after federal troops escorted nine black students into Little Rock’s Central High School as a white mob jeered, Arkansas again finds itself in the center of a debate over civil rights. This time, the issue is gay marriage, but the 1957 desegregation crisis still casts a shadow.

More than 200 gay couples have been issued marriage licenses in the Bible Belt state since a judge struck down Arkansas’ same-sex marriage ban.

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Arkansas Associated Press Civil Rights History Law LGBT Issues Race