Group Talks About Putting Gay Foster Parents Ban On 2008 Ballot
Posted by Gay News Desk at 10:32 AM. Filed under: Gay News
Advocates of a defeated measure barring gays and unmarried couples from fostering or adopting children said today they may try to put the ban on the 2008 ballot. Arkansas Family Council director Jerry Cox says the group is considering trying to place the ban on the ballot as a constitutional amendment or an initiated act if the measure does not win approval in the session.
The proposal was rejected twice yesterday by a House committee. Governor Beebe says the proposal would face constitutional problems because it did not offer equal protection to all people. The bill by Senator Shawn Womack, a Republican from Mountain Home, is an effort to reinstate a ban struck down last year by the Arkansas Supreme Court. Womack’s measure is broader than the regulation that the justices said was unconstitutional.
A spokesman for Beebe’s office said the governor’s concerns with the ban would still remain if the group pushed for the measure on the ballot. Beebe spokesman Matt DeCample said those supporting the measure are obviously free to do what they think is needed. But he said simply changing the venue does not resolve potential constitutional problems, which he said would still be there.
Source: kait8.com