LITTLE ROCK (AP) – Supporters of a proposal aimed at barring homosexuals from adopting or fostering children did not gather enough signatures to get the measure on the November election ballot.

Secretary of State Charlie Daniels said July 23 the Arkansas Family Council Action Committee can have another 30 days to gather the number needed to put the proposal to voters, however.

Daniels’ office counted 57,888 signatures as valid and from registered voters. Supporters need 61,794 signatures to get the measure on the Nov. 4 ballot.

The proposal would ban any unmarried couples living together from becoming adoptive or foster parents.

Jerry Cox, the Family Council president, said the group planned to increase its signature count over the next 30 days by redeeming signatures that were disqualified because of errors that notaries made. Cox said the group would also continue circulating petitions and had set new goals for each of the counties.

Cox said the group hoped to gather another 10,000 signatures.

“I am very confident that on August 22 we will submit more than enough signatures to place the Arkansas Adoption and Foster Care Act on the ballot,” Cox said.

The Family Council campaign is a response to a 2006 Arkansas Supreme Court decision striking down a state policy that specifically banned gays and lesbians from becoming foster parents. State policy currently bars unmarried couples living together from serving as foster parents.

Gov. Mike Beebe has said he is opposed to the initiated act because it goes too far with the adoption restriction. Arkansas Families First, a group organized to campaign against the measure, hopes to prevent the initiated act from gaining enough signatures over the 30-day period, a spokeswoman said.

“We always suspected they would be short and we’re going to work very hard in the next 30 days to educate Arkansans about what this initiated act really does and encourage them not to sign,” spokeswoman Debbie Willhite said.

OXNARD, Calif. (AP) – A Ventura County judge says a 14-year-old charged with killing his gay classmate will be tried as an adult and, as a result, may face a life sentence.

Ventura County Superior Court Judge Douglas Daily ruled Thursday that the stiff punishment wouldn’t be unconstitutional.

Brandon McInerney is charged with first-degree murder and a hate crime in the Feb. 12 killing of 15-year-old Larry King at their Oxnard school.

King sometimes wore makeup and told friends he was gay.

McInerney’s arraignment is set for Aug. 7.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – San Francisco officials determined to keep Halloween festivities out of the historic Castro district already are crafting alternate plans.

City leaders say they plan to hold a party near AT&T Park this year, and also promote smaller events across the city to disperse revelers.

For decades, thousands would converge in the Castro district on Halloween. What started as a spontaneous street party grew into a city-sanctioned event that drew as many as 100,000 to the center of the city’s gay and lesbian community.

But violence marred the gatherings in recent years. In 2006, nine people were injured by gunfire, prompting officials to cancel the Bay Area’s largest Halloween party.

Last year, the city held no event for the occasion.

San Francisco’s Entertainment Commission says it has hired an events manager who is working out the details of this year’s celebration.

SACRAMENTO (AP) – When Californians get their ballot pamphlets in the mail, they’ll see a new description of the proposed constitutional amendment to outlaw same-sex marriage.

Proposition 8 on the November ballot had been described as a measure to limit marriage between a man and a woman.

But the Secretary of State’s office says that description was changed to reflect a May 15 California Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage.

The ballot title and summary now describe the initiative as a constitutional change to eliminate the right of same sex couples to marry.

The revised language also says California could lose several tens of millions of dollars in sales taxes if same-sex marriage were banned.

Critics of the measure say the change accurately shows the initiative would take away a current right of Californians.

GEORGIA

COLUMBUS, Ga. (AP) – A woman diagnosed with HIV has been sentenced to three years in prison for spitting in another woman’s face and proclaiming “I hope you get AIDS.”

The woman, 43-year-old Audrey D. Lewis, pleaded guilty Tuesday to aggravated assault.

Police said a 24-year-old went to lock the apartment door of a friend who was being arrested Oct. 3 for simple battery against Lewis. Assistant District Attorney Doug Breault said Lewis approached the woman and the two began to quarrel.

Breault said Tuesday that Lewis will have to serve the full sentence because she has three prior felonies.

Defense attorney Judy Dunlap said the three years was unwarranted. She said she was hoping for about three months.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) – There’s a movement under way in the Legislature to expand Michigan’s hate crime law to include intimidation of gays and lesbians and people with disabilities.

The changes also would make it specifically illegal to hang a noose or burn a cross on someone else’s property.

State Rep. Paul Condino, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, says he’s introducing legislation to toughen the state’s hate crime law. The Southfield Democrat tells the Detroit Free Press that the changes will be debated during the Legislature’s lame-duck session this fall, although the bill faces an uncertain future in the Republican-controlled Senate.

Linda Parker, director of the state Department of Civil Rights, says Michigan ranks third in the number of reported hate crimes.

NEW YORK (AP) – Do ask – and do tell.

That’s how the New York City Health Department wants doctors and patients to handle the sometimes awkward topic of sexual practices.

In a survey of men who had sex with other men, 39 percent had not disclosed their orientation to their doctors. The Health Department says that lapse greatly reduced the patients’ odds of being tested for HIV.

The department adds that the testing should take place even when the conversation does not. Federal guidelines call on health care providers to offer HIV tests to all patients between the ages of 13 and 64.

BEAVERTON, Oregon (AP) – Nike said July 25 it would pull its ads for its Hyperdunk basketball shoes, responding to criticism that they fed homophobic views.

Nike previously defended the ads, but said it would withdraw them as quickly as possible “to underline our ongoing commitment to supporting diversity in sport and the workplace,” The Oregonian reported.

The ads were created by Portland’s Wieden+Kennedy agency and titled “That Ain’t Right,” “Isn’t That Cute,” and “Punks Jump Up.”

One ad showed a basketball player dunking over another. The crotch of the player dunking was planted firmly in the other player’s face. The ad sported a large tag line: “That Ain’t Right.”

Earlier, Nike had said the ads were “based purely upon a common insight from within the game of basketball – the athletic feat of dunking on the opposition, and is not intended to be offensive.”

Nike also reiterated its “history of supporting athletes regardless of their sexual orientation.” Nike has been praised by gay rights advocates for supporting a 2007 Oregon law banning discrimination against gays in work, housing and public places.

An after hours call to Nike corporate communications rang unanswered.

HARRISBURG, Pennsylvania (AP) – U.S.-based candy maker Mars says it is pulling a Snickers television advertisement in the United Kingdom that prompted a complaint from a gay rights group.

A statement from McLean, Virginia-based Mars Inc. issued late July 24 said the ad featuring the actor Mr. T is the second in a series that was meant to be funny and has been received well there.

But Mars says the ad is not meant to be offensive and it is pulling it.

The Human Rights Campaign Foundation criticized the ad as using stereotypes of gay men.

It’s the second time in a year-and-a-half that the privately held company has pulled an ad after receiving complaints that it was homophobic.

In the ad, Mr. T berates a speedwalking man as a “disgrace to the man race.”