Ark. County Clerk: Gay Marriage a State Issue

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - A county clerk says a federal lawsuit that challenges Arkansas' 2004 ban on same-sex marriages should be dismissed and the issue considered in state court.

Pulaski County Clerk Larry Crane said in court papers filed Thursday that a lawsuit filed by three gay couples in July mimics one filed by 11 couples in state court.

Crane says that while the three couples raise federal constitutional issues, marriage licenses are matters of state law and that questions regarding them should be answered in a state court.

Crane says the state case will answer the same questions posed in the federal lawsuit, making it unnecessary. He says that if the plaintiffs ultimately lose in the Arkansas Supreme Court, they can still go to the U.S. Supreme Court.