Voters approved the measure in 2008 after the state Supreme Court overturned a Human Services Department policy preventing gay men and lesbians from serving as foster parents in 2006.

The high court upheld a lower court ruling that said the law unconstitutionally violates fundamental privacy rights.

The law, known as Act 1, was proposed to voters as a ballot initiative by the Family Council in November 2008 and passed with 57 percent of the vote. The Family Council proposed the initiative after a state policy against allowing same-sex couples to adopt or foster children was ruled unconstitutional.

In December 2008, a group of Arkansas residents filed a lawsuit in Pulaski County Circuit Court challenging the law. The group included unmarried adults who wanted to adopt or foster children, parents who wanted to choose who would adopt their children in the event of their incapacitation or death, and the children of those parents.

- The Arkansas News

In April 2010, Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza ruled the law did not accomplish a compelling state interest and instead cast “an unreasonably broad net." He said the law forced unmarried couples to choose between their relationships and becoming adoptive parents.

The state and the Family Council argued that adopting or fostering children is as a privilege bestowed by state law and not a fundamental right.

“Act 1’s blanket ban provides for no such individualized consideration or case-by-case analysis … and makes the assumption that in all cases where adoption or foster care is the issue it is always against the best interest of the child to be placed in a home where an individual is cohabiting with a sexual partner outside of marriage,” the court said in its opinion.

Clint McCance

The Arkansas school board official, who posted a homophobic rant on Facebook where he encouraged gay kids to kill themselves, has resigned.

The Midland School Board said Monday that Clint McCance, who just weeks ago posted, "I also enjoy the fact that they [gays] often give each other aids and die," submitted his letter of resignation, and it was the board's "unanimous decision" to accept it.

In his single paragraph, typed resignation letter, McCance said, "I did not represent my school or my position well with my statements online. I am sorry for all the trouble it has caused the school district, and those people that I love in this school system."

Copy of McCance's resignation here (click to enlarge);

Just weeks ago, Clint McCance, vice president of the Midland School Board in Pleasant Plains, Ark, responding to a call to wear purple on Oct. 20 to support LGBT youth have committed suicide, posted the following message on his Facebook page:

“Seriously they want me to wear purple because five queers killed themselves. The only way im wearin it for them is if they all commit suicide. I cant believe the people of this world have gotten this stupid. We are honoring the fact that they sinned and killed thereselves because of their sin. REALLY PEOPLE.”

McCance has never quite retracted his statements, telling Anderson Cooper, in an interview last Thursday, that his “strong language” was “too emotional,” and that he “picked the wrong words to use.”

When asked if the words "fag" and "queers" would still be part of his vocabulary, he told Cooper that was "in the future" and he couldn't say for sure.

CNN

Clint McCance

The Arkansas school board official, who recently posted a homophobic rant on Facebook where he encouraged gay kids to kill themselves, apologized for his comments on CNN Thursday night, and said he intends to resign from the school board.

Appearing on "Anderson Cooper 360," Clint McCance said he will resign his post as vice-president of the school board for Midland School District in Pleasant Plains "to help my school, my community," but his apology left some wondering if he was truly sorry, or just "sorry he got caught."

Watch here:

McCance, responding to a call to wear purple last Wednesday to support LGBT youth have committed suicide or have suffered anti-gay bullying, posted the following message on his Facebook page:

“Seriously they want me to wear purple because five queers killed themselves. The only way im wearin it for them is if they all commit suicide. I cant believe the people of this world have gotten this stupid. We are honoring the fact that they sinned and killed thereselves because of their sin. REALLY PEOPLE.”

McCance used the terms "queer" and "fag" repeatedly, and in follow-up posts promised to disown his own children if they are gay and stated that he enjoys "the fact that [gay people] give each other AIDS and die."

In his apology, McCance said his "strong language" was "too emotional," and that he "picked the wrong words to use."

"What remains troubling is that Mr. McCance focused his regret on particular word choices not the animus behind those words," said said HRC President Joe Solmonese, in a statement this evening.

"We hope he will take this time to reflect not only on the language he used but on what he can do to make the lives of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning young people better," Solmonese added.

Clint McCance

A school board official in Midland, Arkansas, has sparked outrage and calls for his resignation following the discovery of an anti-gay tirade on his Facebook page, where he allegedly wrote gays should kill themselves.

According to a report by the Advocate, Clint McCance, a board member in the Midland school district, responding to a call to wear purple last Wednesday to support LGBT youth, allegedly posted the following message on his Facebook page:

"Seriously they want me to wear purple because five queers killed themselves. The only way im wearin it for them is if they all commit suicide. I cant believe the people of this world have gotten this stupid. We are honoring the fact that they sinned and killed thereselves because of their sin. REALLY PEOPLE."

VIA HRC BACKSTORY

Click to Enlarge

McCance's Facebook page has since been taken down, but not before the Advocate received a screen capture forwarded by one of its readers.

In the screen captures, commenters names were disguised, only McCance's name visible. The capture reveals that McCance responded to comments on his original post with these two statements:

“No because being a fag doesnt give you the right to ruin the rest of our lives. If you get easily offended by being called a fag then dont tell anyone you are a fag. Keep that shit to yourself. I dont care how people decide to live their lives. They dont bother me if they keep it to thereselves. It pisses me off though that we make a special purple fag day for them. I like that fags cant procreate. I also enjoy the fact that they often give each other aids and die. If you arent against it, you might as well be for it.”

“I would disown my kids if they were gay. They will not be welcome at my home or in my vicinity. I will absolutely run them off. Of course my kids will know better. My kids will have solid christian beliefs. See it infects everyone.”

The Midland School District has posted a notice on its website that it does not condone McCance's comments, and that the district discourages bullying.

"The district strives to foster an environment that discourages all forms of bullying, and an environment that encourages a safe and productive educational climate of all of our students," said Dean Stanley, superintendent of the Midland School District, in a statement. "The district is very diligent in pursuing and addressing bullying of any variety on our campuses."

No comment yet from McCance on the posting, but the Arkansas Times reported they had reached McCance on his cell phone, and he told them the issue had been "blown out of proportion" and he planned to issue a statement later Wednesday.

McCance told the newspaper he'd received several hundred phone calls, and when asked if he regretted the comments on the Facebook page, he replied, "I can't comment on that right now." He promised an update after a meeting with his lawyer.

A Facebook page launched Tuesday is calling for McCance to be fired.

On Wednesday, the Arkansas Department of Education condemned the purported Facebook comment, but said that "Because Mr. McCance is an elected official, the department has no means of dealing with him directly."

The HRC broke the story around the same time as the Advocate, and reports it was alerted to the messages by a Midland High School graduate.

“Clint McCance has put a face on the hate that devastates our young people,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese in a statement. “McCance and his hate shouldn’t be allowed near children, let alone managing their education. We call for his immediate resignation from the school board.”

A 10-year-old Arkansas boy named Will Phillips has decided that he cannot in good conscience pledge allegiance to the flag as long as the country for which it stands refuses legal equality to its LGBT citizens.

The West Fork School District fifth grade student clashed with a substitute teacher for his refusal to stand for the pledge, prompting a call to Will’s mother, Laura Phillips. When the principal acknowledged that Will has the right to refuse to say the pledge, Ms. Phillips asked that her son receive an apology -- a request that the principal declined to honor.

Laura Phillips told the Arkansas Times that her 10-year-old is "probably more aware of the meaning of the pledge than a lot of adults. He’s not just doing it rote recitation. We raised him to be aware of what’s right, what’s wrong, and what’s fair."

On Monday, Will and his father sat down with CNN. Watch the interview here:

Will's family has a number of gay friends. In recent years, Laura Phillips said, they've been trying to be a straight ally to the gay community, going to the pride parades and standing up for the rights of their gay and lesbian neighbors. They've been especially dismayed by the effort to take away the rights of homosexuals – the right to marry, and the right to adopt.

Given that, Will immediately saw a problem with the pledge of allegiance.

“I've always tried to analyze things because I want to be lawyer,” Will said. “I really don't feel that there's currently liberty and justice for all.”

After asking his parents whether it was against the law not to stand for the pledge, Will decided to do something.

On Monday, Oct. 5, when the other kids in his class stood up to recite the pledge of allegiance, he remained sitting down. The class had a substitute teacher that week, who tried to make him stand up, but Will respectfully refused.

After several days of Will refusing to stand for the pledge, it finally came to a head. The teacher, Will said, told him that she knew his mother and grandmother, and they would want him to stand and say the pledge.

“She got a lot more angry and raised her voice and brought my mom and my grandma up,” Will said. “I was fuming and was too furious to really pay attention to what she was saying. After a few minutes, I said, ‘With all due respect, ma'am, you can go jump off a bridge.' ”

Will Phillips still refuses to stand during the pledge of allegiance. Though many of his friends at school have told him they support his decision, those who don't have been unkind, and often attack him personally with anti-gay epithets.

"In the lunchroom and in the hallway, they’ve been making comments and doing pranks, and calling me gay," Will said. "It’s always the same people, walking up and calling me a gaywad."

Even so, Will said that he can't foresee anything in the near future that will make him stand for the pledge.

Full interview at the Arkansas Times.