LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) – Opponents of a measure that would ban unmarried couples living together from adopting or fostering children have dropped their plans to challenge the proposal in court to keep it off the ballot this fall.

Debbie Willhite, lead consultant for Arkansas Families First, said Sept. 16 the organization decided against challenging the language of the proposed initiated act or the signatures that were submitted to place it on the ballot.

“At this time, we’re going to just prepare to have a very, very aggressive campaign against them and beat them,” Willhite said.

Willhite said last month the group was preparing to challenge the proposal in court. The measure is aimed at prohibiting gays and lesbians from fostering or adopting children.

The Arkansas Family Council proposal was 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.

The Family Council last year had backed legislation that would have specifically banned gays and lesbians, as well as unmarried couples living together, from adopting or fostering children. During the legislative session in 2007, the state Senate voted to pass the ban but the plan failed in a House committee after Gov. Mike Beebe said the measure had constitutional problems.

Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, who had certified the language of the ballot measure, said last month he believed the proposed initiated act and a proposed ballot measure to create a state-run lottery could withstand any court challenge.

McDaniel has said he personally opposes the adoption and foster-care measure.

Jerry Cox, the head of Arkansas Family Council, said his group wasn’t worried about a lawsuit challenging the signatures but had been concerned about a potential lawsuit over the wording of the proposed act.

“We spent longer writing the proposal than we did conducting the petition drive, and the reason we spent longer writing the proposal is because we knew we would have to write the most bulletproof proposal we could,” Cox said.

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Brad Pitt has donated $100,000 to fight California’s November ballot initiative that would overturn the state Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage.

It is the first time voters will be asked to ban same-sex marriage in a state where gay couples already have won the right to wed through rulings by state courts. Same-sex marriage is legal in Massachusetts and California.

“Because no one has the right to deny another their life, even though they disagree with it, because everyone has the right to live the life they so desire if it doesn’t harm another and because discrimination has no place in America, my vote will be for equality and against Proposition 8,” Pitt said Sept.17

The ballot question known as Proposition 8 essentially will ask voters to prohibit the practice of same-sex marriage, which was approved this year by the California Supreme Court.

Trevor Neilson, Pitt’s political and philanthropic adviser, told The Associated Press that Pitt was surprised that his colleagues in the entertainment industry had not donated more money to support the battle against Proposition 8.

Earlier last week, Pitt and Angelina Jolie announced they had donated $2 million to help fight HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis in Ethiopia.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) – In critically worded opinion, a Kentucky Court of Appeals panel has ruled lesbians cannot adopt children as though they were stepparents.

The Courier-Journal reported the decision in a Jefferson County case in which appellate judges ruled 3-0 that stepparent adoptions are allowed only when the stepmother or stepfather is married to the biological parent.

The ruling notes that same-sex marriages are forbidden in Kentucky, both constitutionally and by statute.

Judge Glenn Acree wrote the opinion, which said it is not the role of a judge to determine whether that prohibition is “morally defensible or socially enlightened.”

The case involves two women, one of whom was artificially inseminated and gave birth to a boy, who is now eight years old.

The appeals court allowed the adoption, but only because one of the women waited more than a year to challenge it.

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (AP) – Two men charged in the stabbing death of a northeastern Pennsylvania porn producer are to be tried together.

Lawyers for 34-year-old Joseph Kerekes and 27-year-old Harlow Cuadra argued for their clients to have separate trials, saying they might incriminate each other. A Luzerne County judge ruled Sept. 15 that the two men from Virginia Beach, Va., must be tried together.

Both are charged in the death of Bryan Charles Kocis, who was repeatedly stabbed in his Dallas, Pa., home last year before the house was then set on fire. Prosecutors say the motive was a business dispute in the gay porn industry.

EASTON, Pa. (AP) – A 29-year-old eastern Pennsylvania woman who pretended to have AIDS to collect medical and welfare benefits has worked out a plea bargain.

Cassey Jo Weierbach faces up to 17 years in prison when sentenced Nov. 3 in Northampton County Court. The Bethlehem woman pleaded no contest Monday to one count of felony prohibited acts under the state welfare code and misdemeanor forgery and tampering with records. She was initially charged with five felonies.

Before her arrest in 2006, Weierbach spoke at medical conferences, colleges and churches about her purported battle with AIDS.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – An Orem entrepreneur has donated $1 million to fight California’ proposed ban on same-sex marriage.

WordPerfect co-founder and former Mormon Bruce Bastian says he was inspired to make the donation after The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints called upon its members to support Proposition 8, which would eliminate California’s current recognition of same-sex couple’s marriages.

Bastian, who is openly gay, says he was upset when the LDS Church issued its statement in June on the ballot measure.

Meanwhile, public finance records indicate Utah residents have donated more than $120,000 to support Proposition 8.

California voters will decide on the measure in November.

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) – A member of the state Human Rights Commission quit at the request of Gov. Chris Gregoire after an audit showed improper use of rental cars and a state credit card.

Jerry Hebert of Poulsbo disputes the audit and says no taxpayer dollars were spent improperly. He says he was targeted because he is openly gay.

Gregoire’s legislative director Marty Brown asked Hebert to step down and received his resignation Aug. 6.

Hebert told The Olympian newspaper that the investigation was slanted. His claim that he was targeted because he was gay was condemned by the former commission chairman, Reiko Callner, who called it ridiculous.

WASHINGTON (AP) – The National Black Justice Coalition will honor Congressional Black Caucus members who are founders of the LGBT Equality Caucus in Congress on Monday.

The LGBT Equality Caucus is the first Congressional Caucus to advance the rights of equality, repealing discriminatory laws, and educating lawmakers on gay issues. The five members are Reps. Yvette Clarke (NY), Keith Ellison (MN), Sheila Jackson Lee (TX), Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX), and Barbara Lee (CA) – all Democrats.

“We are proud to have members of the Congressional Black Caucus stand up for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people as we try to move an inclusive and progressive civil rights agenda forward for Black LGBT people of color,” said H. Alexander Robinson, executive director of NBJC, the nation’s largest African-American gay group.

The event will be held at the office of Robert Raben, a political consultant and the former assistant attorney general during the Clinton administration.

It will be followed on Tuesday by a historic convening of the 36 member organizations of the Black Leadership Forum to discuss GLBT issues in the Black community.

Robinson said he hoped the forum would agree to a common action plan and memorandum of understanding.