FAYETTEVILLE -- Hundreds of people participated Saturday in the eighth annual NWA Pride parade.
The parade began near the downtown Fayetteville Square and ended nine blocks away in the parking lot of the Walton Arts Center on Dickson Street.
Along the way, people cheered, music blared, a man on a step stool preached through a megaphone, and people posed for pictures with a man carrying a sign that read, "America is doomed."
NWA Pride was founded in 2007 "to promote GLBTI events in the Northwest Arkansas region," according to its website, nwapride.org. The initials stand for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex.
It was the first time the parade has been held since same-sex marriages were made legal -- however briefly -- in Arkansas.
Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza ruled May 9 that Arkansas' laws banning same-sex marriage were unconstitutional. More than 400 couples in Arkansas got married the following week before the state Supreme Court issued a stay of Piazza's order. Of that number, 138 marriage licenses were issued by the Washington County clerk's office in Fayetteville. Pulaski County issued nearly 300.
Cheryl Maples, the Searcy lawyer who filed the lawsuit that led to Piazza's ruling, spoke to a crowd of about 300 people at a rally in the parking lot after Saturday's parade.
"I'm incredibly touched," Maples told the crowd. "I didn't think what impact it was going to have on so many people. ... I really didn't foresee the depth of emotion from what I've done here."
Maples told the crowd that the Supreme Court will likely uphold Piazza's ruling, and the higher court will probably rule on the issue before the end of the year.
"I can't see us losing the fight before the Supreme Court," she said.
Maples received her law degree in 1987 from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock School of Law.
When she began law school, Maples said she had a vision that she was going to change the world. She had been a Truman scholar, a scholarship program that encourages students to go into public service.
"And then I went into private practice," said Maples.
But Maples said she knows now that her mission in life was to fight for same-sex marriage rights.
"I know this is why I went to law school," she said. "Now, I'm changing the world. ... This is where I wanted to be when I decided to go to law school. I just never dreamed I'd be here."
Candy Clark, a Washington County justice of the peace, spoke to the crowd after Maples.
"The lady who just spoke is my hero," said Clark. "A couple of weeks ago, she made it so I can perform weddings for everybody."
Clark was at the Washington County Courthouse during the week that marriage licenses were being issued to same-sex couples, performing weddings for anyone who needed a justice of the peace. Until May 14, that is, when the Supreme Court issued its stay.
Clark rode in a sport utility vehicle during the parade, flinging packages of Skittles at people along the way.
"This shows the diversity of this community, which is one of the things that makes it so rich, culturally," she told a reporter before the parade.
Lydia Walker and Jodie Hughes of Springdale drove to Iowa in the snow in December to get married.
"Because of our age and health, we didn't feel like we could wait for Arkansas," said Walker, as they sat in a vehicle waiting for the parade to start. "We didn't think we'd live to see it legal in Arkansas, so we ran up to Iowa to get married."
Both women are in their 50s but have had health problems.
Walker said she was a member of a group at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville in the early 1980s called the Razordykes. She said the group of lesbians bought books for a women's center on campus and did speaking engagements.
Walker said a gay-rights rally on the UA campus in 1982 attracted about 20 participants and 200 protesters.
"We feared for our lives," she said.
But things have changed. The atmosphere before and during the parade was like a carnival, and protesters were few.
"We're so proud now," said Walker.
Near the Walton Arts Center, Justin Lowrey of Fayetteville and Wichita, Kan., was carrying a sign that read "America is doomed" on one side and "God hates antichrist fags" on the other.
Several people in the crowd stopped to pose for photos with Lowrey, who used the sign to hide his face in some of the photos. On its website, NWA Pride encourages participants to be friendly to protesters.
"I fear God, and he sent me here," Lowrey told a reporter. "I consider myself to be friendly but when the time comes, you have to do what the Bible says."
Members of Wal-Mart Pride served as grand marshals for the parade. They carried a banner that read: "Walmart Pride: LGBT & Straight Ally Associates Resource Group."
On Jan. 1, the world's largest retailer extended same-sex marriage benefits to nontraditional couples who are employees, said Sandy King, one of the grand marshals from Wal-Mart. She also addressed the crowd after the parade. The other grand marshals were Jason Viator, Bruce Gillispie, David Yates and Sharon Wibben, according to nwapride.org.
The grand marshals "influenced their company's decision to implement domestic partner benefits" and other benefits to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees, according to the website.
At a picnic at Wilson Park after the parade and rally, Fayetteville Mayor Lioneld Jordan declared the week of June 22-28 to be NWA Pride week in Fayetteville. The picnic was sponsored by the NWA Center for Equality in Fayetteville.
NW News on 06/15/2014