Same-sex households, marriages rise in Arkansas
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The number of same-sex marriages in Arkansas has risen since 2015, when the U.S. Supreme Court legalized them nationwide.
Why it matters: About 5.3% of Arkansas adults are part of the LGBTQ+ community.
Flashback: Same-sex marriage was briefly legal in Arkansas in 2014, after a Pulaski County circuit judge struck down a state ban. But the Arkansas Supreme Court stopped the state from issuing more marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
By the numbers: Arkansas had 8,732 same-sex households in 2022, of which 5,230 — about 60% — were married, according to Census Bureau data.
- That's up from 4,928 same-sex couples in 2013, of which 1,026 couples — about 21% — were married the year before same-sex marriage first became legal in the state.
The big picture: The number of same-sex marriages has increased nationwide — there were about 741,000 married, same-sex households in 2022, up from about 150,000 in 2008, Axios' Alex Fitzpatrick and Kavya Beheraj write.
- 58% of same-sex couple households were married as of 2022, compared to just 27% in 2008.
- Same-sex couple households nationwide numbered about 1.3 million as of 2022, per the latest American Community Survey data, compared to about 565,000 in 2008.