Election results from Eureka Springs are in. It’s a win for LGBTQ rights.

71 percent of voters cast ballots to keep intact Ordinance 2223, the nondiscrimination measure passed by the city earlier this spring. The final tally: 579 votes for, 231 against. That’s a total of 810 votes total — a higher turnout than the 792 votes cast in the 2014 midterms last November.

Eureka is certainly not a bellweather for Arkansas (um, see picture above) but today’s vote still represents a major victory in the battle for equal recognition of LGBTQ people in the eyes of the law.

In addition to its symbolic importance, the Eureka ordinance poses the clearest legal challenge to Act 137 (previously known as SB 202), the state law passed in the 2015 legislative session that will prevent city and county governments from adding protected classes to civil rights law. That law will go into effect on July 22.


That’s all for me. I’m too tired to gloat, but the rest of you have at it.