Ken Riley and Harold Ellis have been together for 34 years—and now also months into married life.
Riley and Ellis were married May 10 in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, which has become the "marriage capitol of the South," Riley said.
"Friends called and said get down here," to city hall on a Saturday this past May, Riley said. "Harold was still at home; I was in town gardening. There was a lot of back and forth and the city clerk said she was not going to issue licenses, [so] people started leaving. We encouraged people not to leave, and it got to the point we were inside because of how many had just walked away. We went back outside and started a protest chant.
"There was a little controversy of our way of handling it, but as I explained [at the time], 'We all have our own way of handling things, and this is my way of handling stuff like this.'"
Within minutes an officer came to the door and said they were going to open up.
"We let everyone [who] we knew [was initially] ahead of us back in line. We were very lucky that we were the sixth same-sex couple married in the Bible Belt, by coincidence, we also were the sixth couple to be registered domestic partners in the South."
Riley, 59, was born in Chicago's Roseland neighborhood and spent his last 17 or 18 years in Chicago living in Andersonville. He was the owner of Chicago Aquarium and Pond Co., from 1980-2005. He is now a realtor with Century 21 Woodland.
Ellis, 68, is now retired.
They moved to Arkansas in 2006, as it was "time to slow down," Riley said. Now married, Riley joked that he now "even walks different.
"I always said, 'After all theses years [together] what difference is that [marriage certificate on] paper going to make, [but] I cried during that short ceremony and realized I love Harold as much today as I ever did."
So how did they meet?
It truly is a fish tale.
"I was working at New Town Aquarium [in Uptown]," Riley said. "Harold was the census taker for the blocks around [that area]. We talked for a few minutes, [and then] he mentioned he did stained glass. I said I would like to see it, so he gave me his number—and I started calling as soon as he was out of sight."
When they later talked, it was the start, officially.
"We spent the first few moths reassuring each other that they are not the one, then one day in the garden one of us said, 'Maybe I wouldn't mind growing old with you,'" Riley said.
Both have fallen in love with Eureka Springs, too.
"There aren't any gay bars, per se [in the city], but there are drag shows, and allegedly there are more LGBT per capita here than any place else," Riley said. "Back in our day, we were very active in Chicago. We were the plaintiffs in the first felony hate crime prosecuted in the state, and the city council passed a resolution honoring the things we did there. We did the Marches on Washington, the March on the United Nations, [and more]. Harold and I have a few buildings in town, but we live on Beaver Lake, about 39 minutes away."
Riley is on the board of directors for the Eureka Springs Gay Business Guild, "and Harold helps me with my commitments," Riley said. "Really, these homosexuals' agenda is to keep moving outward and showing people, sometimes one person at a time, yep, we are all humans
"Eureka Springs is just a great place for people to live; it's not just that a lot of gays have settled here. We have four diversity weekends a year; we do have a men's resort, but no gay bars. It's almost like watching an experiment some times. Look, all I can tell you is, I spent my first 50 [years] in Chicago, and have not been as comfortable as I am here. The natural beauty of this area is outstanding; Beaver Lake is amazing. Being near Bentonville, which is the world headquarters for WalMart, has helped to homogenize the areas outside of Eureka Springs as well."
