Arkansas Families First will not file a lawsuit to contest either signatures or the constitutionality of the proposal to ban adoptions or foster parenting in homes with unmarried couples. The group will focus on a campaign to defeat the proposal.

A spokesman said the group found as many as 15,000 signatures that raised questions under technical requirements of the law (unacceptable notarization, signatures of voters from outside a canvasser’s county, for example), but the secretary of state’s office was using a loose standard for approval, checking only names of voters and their zip codes. A challenge was judged as too steep against devoting resources to the campaign, particularly if the challenge failed.

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“The issue is educating Arkansa this is about children, not gays,” said Debbie Wilhite, a leader of the effort. “We think we can beat them. Our polling says we can.”

A ballot measure in California to ban same-sex marriage could drain some national financial support that otherwise might find its way to Arkansas. But Wilhite said she was confident the campaign would have money for a media campaign, in addition to work by a number of supportive churches, family groups, medical groups and adoption advocates.

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