{"id":892,"date":"2008-08-25T16:30:07","date_gmt":"2008-08-25T16:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/news\/2008\/08\/ban-on-unmarried-adoptions-cle.php"},"modified":"2008-08-25T16:30:07","modified_gmt":"2008-08-25T16:30:07","slug":"ban-on-unmarried-adoptions-cle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2008\/08\/ban-on-unmarried-adoptions-cle","title":{"rendered":"Ban on Unmarried Adoptions Cleared for Ark. Ballot"},"content":{"rendered":"

Associated Press – August 25, 2008 <\/strong>
\nLITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A proposal aimed at effectively banning gays and lesbians from becoming foster or adoptive parents was cleared Monday to appear on this fall’s ballot in Arkansas.
\nThe measure would prohibit unmarried couples living together from fostering or adopting children.
\nSecretary of State Charlie Daniels certified the proposed initiated act for the Nov. 4 ballot after verifying that the Arkansas Family Council Action Committee had submitted 85,389 valid signatures of registered voters. Supporters needed to turn in at least 61,974 valid signatures.
\n“Arkansas needs to affirm the importance of married mothers and fathers,” Family Council President Jerry Cox said. “We need to publicly affirm the gold standard of rearing children whenever we can. The state standard should be as close to that gold standard of married mom and dad homes as possible.”
\nThe Family Council campaign is a response to a 2006 Arkansas Supreme Court decision striking down a state policy that specifically banned gays and lesbians from becoming foster parents.
\nThe ballot measure would take the place of a state policy that currently bars unmarried couples living together from serving as foster parents.
\nThe measure faces the threat of a lawsuit from groups who say that it unfairly discriminates against unmarried couples and limits the number of foster and adoptive homes available for children.
\nArkansas Families First is campaigning against the measure and has said it plans to file a lawsuit to keep it from appearing on the November ballot. Debbie Willhite, a lead consultant for the group, said last week the group has found numerous signatures that should have been rejected by the state as invalid and that the group also plans to challenge the constitutionality of the measure.
\nAttorney General Dustin McDaniel opposes the proposed initiated act but said last week that he was confident it could survive a legal challenge.
\nCox said the Family Council will rely on support from the same network of churches that helped it pass a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage in 2004.
\nThe Family Council’s campaign had a debt of nearly $2,800 as of July 31. By comparison, Arkansas Families First reported more than $45,000 in the bank for its efforts to fight the measure.
\nCopyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Associated Press – August 25, 2008 LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A proposal aimed at effectively banning gays and lesbians from becoming foster or adoptive parents was cleared Monday to appear on this fall’s ballot in Arkansas. The measure would prohibit unmarried couples living together from fostering or adopting children. Secretary of State Charlie Daniels certified…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nBan on Unmarried Adoptions Cleared for Ark. Ballot<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2008\/08\/ban-on-unmarried-adoptions-cle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ban on Unmarried Adoptions Cleared for Ark. Ballot\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Associated Press – August 25, 2008 LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A proposal aimed at effectively banning gays and lesbians from becoming foster or adoptive parents was cleared Monday to appear on this fall’s ballot in Arkansas. The measure would prohibit unmarried couples living together from fostering or adopting children. Secretary of State Charlie Daniels certified…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2008\/08\/ban-on-unmarried-adoptions-cle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Beliefnet News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-08-25T16:30:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"nsymmonds\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ban on Unmarried Adoptions Cleared for Ark. Ballot","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/news\/2008\/08\/ban-on-unmarried-adoptions-cle","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ban on Unmarried Adoptions Cleared for Ark. 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