Arkansas group
announces ballot measure to ban adoption by gays

A well-known Arkansas conservative group announced Tuesday its plan to put a measure on next year's ballot that would bar gays from adopting or fostering children, according to an Associated Press report.

Jerry Cox, executive director of the Family Council of Arkansas, says the prohibition will be similar to proposed legislation that was rejected by Arkansas legislators earlier this year.

"It's not any big secret that we've been planning to do this," Cox told the AP. "We just got so many questions that we wanted to let people know that we're definitely going for it."

In order to get on the ballot, the proposed measure will require about 78,000 signatures, equal to 10% of the ballots cast in the last gubernatorial election.

The earlier legislation, which would have prevented gay and unmarried couples from becoming foster or adoptive parents, passed the state senate but was rejected by the house judiciary committee. Legislators were concerned about the ban's constitutionality, according to Arkansas governor Mike Beebe, because it didn't offer equal protection to all people.

Both measures are a reaction to last year's Arkansas supreme court decision to remove a state ban on gay foster parents. (The Advocate)