Domestic Partnerships to be Banned in Arkansas?

[Dardedar]

DAR
An important article from Richard Drake's news blog.

Street Jazz

Commentary from Northwest Arkansas

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Representative Brian King: Follow me, boys! The Dark Ages are calling us!

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” July 4, 1776

This week Arkansas Representative Brian King introduced a bill, HB 2176, which proposes further increasing the state’s control over a city’s authority by prohibiting any city or county from offering Domestic Partnerships.

To date, Eureka Springs is the only city in Arkansas to offer such Domestic Partnership Registries. There are many who had hoped that Fayetteville would follow suit, but we’re not quite as brave as Eureka in that regard.

In 2004, the state of Arkansas - in a statewide ballot initiative - passed the Defense of Marriage Amendment, which states, “Marriage consists only of the union of one man and one woman.” This amendment was supported by over 75 percent of the voters that year.

In 2007, the Eureka Springs City Council passed a measure (three times) which created the Domestic Partnership Registry. True, while the DPR doesn’t actually confer legal rights upon any couples who choose to take advantage of it, it was a nice symbolic move. That’s how progress is made sometimes, with small symbolic moves.

And it was also good for tourism, in a town which thrives on it. But for all the reaction it inspired, one would have thought that the city council had voted to close down the local Creation Science Museum, and sell the “dinosaurs” on eBay.

The American Family Association produced a vile propaganda film, They’re Coming to Your Town, which pretty much depicted Eureka as a town taken over by the forces of Godlessness, and warned that other cities in Northwest Arkansas were in similar danger. Yeah, right.

The rest... and see the mayors excellent response

[L.Wood]

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King's screwy bill will never make it's way out of committee. I'm glad rsdrake did this expose but believe me, it was a group of
Ark Legislative Democrats who ventured over to Berryville last year to help elect King, including the moderate-to-liberal Robbie Wills, the
Democratic Speaker of the Ark. House.

King is simply doing something to pander to his extremist fundamentalist base which is 20 miles from Eureka Springs, AR

DOA.

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[L.Wood]

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DOA Indeed!

Happy ending for Eureka

Republican Rep. Bryan King's bill to punish Eureka Springs by revoking its domestic partnership registry failed in committee this morning on a voice vote. A motion for a roll call came after the chair, Rep. Tommy Baker, had adjourned the meeting.

The mayor of Eureka Springs, Dani Joy, said the registry -- not a legal creation but a gesture of goodwill to unmarried couples who pay a fee to signal their commitment to one another -- had not harmed tourism. She also said Eureka Springs had no sex crimes problem, though parts of the county did.

The Family Council was on hand to stoke the homophobic fires, waving the state's same-sex marriage ban as a cudgel. (As if it has anything to do with city public relations.) But the STFU Award goes to Rep. Beverly Pyle. You know the crackpot Republican for her efforts to put guns in churches and to crack down on massages that treat sexually sensitive portions of the anatomy.

She said: "When you go through the parks in Eureka Springs there are people acting like animals lying around. I hate to see where your city is going. It's deteriorating the family atmosphere." It's a happy ending when her like is defeated.

Posted by Max Brantley on March 27, 2009 10:05 AM

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[kwlyon]

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Hehe....endowed....hehehe

[L.Wood]

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See the Mayor of Eureka Springs, AR present their case to continue their "domestic partnership registry."

See the fundamentalists, including state leader Jerry Cox, make their case for government control of personal lives
and note their generous, unchallenged use of innuendo and hearsay.

Also note the attorney for Eureka Springs and the attorney for ACLU make their respective cases for "home rule."

It's a five part YouTube done by "Happy Camper"

pT.1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBgoUwZbvPQ
PT.2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b59vzF_VHbg
PT.3 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrVjxiaLOSA
pT.4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WcDNbiUQxU
pT.5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HdrtfgoUiLU

I did not make links. Copy paste is best to help avoid your browser opening multiple windows or tabs.

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[L.Wood]

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The saga continues in the Ark Democrat-Gazette. Stories are clarified but shortened. You don't get to see
Beverly Pyle calling the residents of Eureka Springs animals. Good to watch the YouTube videos above then
compare the printed news story here.

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