There’s a saying among the LGBTQ+ community in Eureka Springs, Arkansas: “Not even the streets are straight.”
It’s barely hyperbole: Over 30 percent of the 2,000 residents in this Ozark mountain town identify as LGBTQ+. The winding roads are narrow and dizzying, with zero traffic lights; it’s not uncommon to see a confused out-of-towner driving the wrong way up a hill, to the ire of residents and all those that know the Eureka rule: Just park and walk.
In 2012, Eureka Springs became the first city in the red state of Arkansas to endorse same-sex marriage. When marriage equality passed in May of 2014, Jay Wilks the director of LGBTQ+ organization Out in Eureka and his husband Keith were second in line to tie the knot. They became the fourth same-sex couple ever married in the South, thanks to logistics: The measure passed on Friday night, and Eureka’s license office was one of the few opened on Saturday, with people driving in from all over to make their relationship
As live music returns to the region, we return with our weekly look at what you can see and hear at venues across northwest Arkansas. Thurs, Jun 3 Tyler
Staying with family
LGBTQ-owned vacation options in Texas (and Eureka Springs)
If you are looking for someplace relatively close to home as in, say, somewhere in Texas to go on vacation, and you really want to spend your money at an LGBTQ-owned venue, here are a few options to choose from, offering everything from lap of luxury resort-style accommodations to primitive camping (in alphabetical order):
ABUNDANCE RETREAT
Houston power couple Tina Sabuco and Shellye Arnold celebrated their 8th anniversary with a relaxing getaway at a beautiful spot in Wimberly, Texas. They loved it so much, they purchased the property and named it Abundance Retreat.