Court Cases

Victory! The ACLU, the ACLU of Arkansas, and private counsel filed suit in federal court on behalf of Patricia Dawson against her former employer, H & H Electric, for firing her after she made her transition from male to female apparent at her workplace.

Victory! In 2013, private counsel filed a lawsuit in state court challenging the constitutionality of Arkansas’ ban on same-sex couples marrying, and the state’s refusal to recognize such marriages performed in other states. On May 9, 2014, a state judge found the law unconstitutional and struck it down, but a week later the Arkansas Supreme Court put the decision on hold. However, in the interim, approximately 450 same-sex couples were married.

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 recognize the marriage of same-sex 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.