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March 28, 2007

Parenting ban dies in Ark. house

A proposal to prohibit Arkansas gay men and lesbians and unmarried couples from becoming foster or adoptive parents failed twice Tuesday before a committee of the state house of representatives, the Associated Press reported.

The proposal, by Republican senator Shawn Womack, failed in the house judiciary committee after no one on the committee moved to pass it. The panel had rejected an amendment Womack offered that would have allowed gays to adopt if they were related to the child.

Later on Tuesday, Rep. Jon Woods, also a Republican, brought the measure up again for the committee to reconsider, AP reported. Representatives did not discuss the bill, and it failed on a voice vote.

The proposal cleared a senate committee March 12, but Tuesday's action cast doubt on its future, and antigay activists did not know how they would proceed.

In September the Arkansas supreme court overturned a ban on gay foster parents, saying it was improperly established by state policy rather than by law and was unsupported by evidence. Womack's proposal was an attempt to enact the failed policy into law.

Members of the committee voiced skepticism Tuesday over how the state would enforce the ban and verify whether a prospective parent was gay. They heard from teenagers who said being raised by gays has not harmed them.

"I've lived in both types of homes, one with a mother and a father and one with my nana, and in my experience the best one was the one with my nana," the AP quoted Devon Bearden, 15, as saying. "I think the home a child goes into should be based on who can best take care of the child."

The Arkansas Child Welfare Board instituted the ban in March 1999, claiming children should be in traditional two-parent homes because they are more likely to thrive there. Four people sued, and the board dropped the policy after losing a court fight in 2004. (The Advocate)

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