A group in Arkansas has begun a push to
repeal the state's 2004 voter-approved gay marriage ban.
According to CBS affiliate Today's THV,
the group Arkansans for Equality has started the formal paperwork
needed to get the issue on the 2014 ballot.
“We've got a lawyer so far,”
organizer Trey Weir said. “We've met with him on last Wednesday to
discuss where we go from here and we should have some language for
the ballot to submit to the Attorney General pretty soon.”
Repealing the ban is only the first
step to legalizing marriage equality in the state. And a second
group, The Arkansas Initiative for Marriage Equality, hopes to put a
question legalizing such unions on the 2016 ballot.
Jerry Cox, the executive director of
the Arkansas Family Council, the group which worked to approved the
ban, insisted the issue was settled.
“The people of Arkansas have already
spoken on this issue,” he
said. “Seventy-five percent have said we believe marriage
ought to be the union of a man and a woman and that pretty much
settles it I believe.”
Groups are also working to repeal bans
in Arizona
and Ohio.