Proposed adoption ban on gays falls short on signature requirement

By The Associated Press

Supporters of a proposal aimed at barring homosexuals from adopting or fostering children did not gather enough signatures to get the measure on the November election ballot, the secretary of state's office said Wednesday.

Secretary of State Charlie Daniels said the Arkansas Family Council Action Committee can have 30 more days to gather the number needed to put the proposal to voters, however.

Daniels' office counted 57,888 signatures as valid and from registered voters. Supporters need 61,794 signatures to get the measure on the Nov. 4 ballot.

The proposal would ban any unmarried couples living together from becoming adoptive or foster parents.

Jerry Cox, the Family Council president, said the group planned to increase its signature count over the next 30 days by redeeming signatures that were disqualified because of errors that notaries made. Cox said the group would also continue circulating petitions and had set new goals for each of the counties.

Cox said the group hoped to gather 10,000 additional signatures.

"I am very confident that on August 22 we will submit more than enough signatures to place the Arkansas Adoption and Foster Care Act on the ballot," Cox said.

The Family Council campaign is a response to a 2006 Arkansas Supreme Court decision striking down a state policy that specifically banned gays from becoming foster parents. State policy currently bars unmarried couples living together from serving as foster parents.

Gov. Mike Beebe has said he is opposed to the initiated act because it goes too far with the adoption restriction. Arkansas Families First, a group organized to campaign against the measure, hopes to prevent the initiated act from gaining enough signatures over the 30-day period, a spokesman said.

"We always suspected they would be short and we're going to work very hard in the next 30 days to educate Arkansans about what this initiated act really does and encourage them not to sign," Debbie Willhite said.