PARIS, Ark. (AP) – The head of a state panel that had approved a policy banning gays and lesbians from serving as foster parents says it is unlikely Arkansas will appeal court decisions rejecting the ban.

The Child Welfare Agency Licensing Review Board, meeting at the Mount Magazine State Park, intended a formal vote on Sept. 7.

“I’d just like to let the Legislature work on this one,” board chair James Balcom said.

A Pulaski County judge and the state Supreme Court each ruled that the board did not have the authority to impose the ban. A state Health and Human Services department lawyer said the state has until Sept. 29 to file papers with the U.S. Supreme Court that it intends to keep fighting.

Four people sued after the board adopted the policy in 1999 and the board dropped the policy after losing a court fight in 2004. The four who successfully sued the board did not apply to serve as foster parents, a state spokesperson said after the state Supreme Court affirmed the ban in June.

Gov. Mike Huckabee has said he hoped legislators would consider a ban but that he was not inclined to call a special legislative session to address the issue. He leaves office in January before the next term of the Legislature.

The board had instituted the ban in March 1999, saying children should be in traditional two-parent homes because they are more likely to thrive in that environment.

SACRAMENTO (AP) – Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger vetoed a bill on Sept. 6 that would have barred textbooks from using language that would be discriminatory to gays and lesbians, saying the state’s education laws already prevent discrimination.

The bill’s author, state Sen. Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, called the veto “inexplicable.”

Kuehl’s bill initially would have required California’s social science textbooks to include the historical contributions of gays and lesbians, but the state Assembly amended it at her request in an effort to avoid a veto from the Republican governor.

The final version of Senate Bill 1437 would have prohibited any negative portrayal of gays and lesbians in textbooks and other instructional material, expanding current anti-discrimination laws that apply to minorities.

But in a veto message, Schwarzenegger said California’s education code already prohibits discrimination in schools and says everyone is entitled to “equal rights and opportunities in our state educational institutions, regardless of their sex, ethnic group, race, national origin, religion, disability and sexual orientation.”

“I and this administration are firmly committed to the vigorous enforcement of these protections,” he said.

Kuehl expressed frustration about the veto and said she had explicitly changed the legislation to address the governor’s opposition.

“I am extremely disappointed that the governor chose to respond to a small, shrill group of right-wing extremists rather than a fair-minded majority of Californians who support this reasonable measure,” she said in a statement.

Kuehl said GLBT students are still vulnerable to discrimination in instructional materials and school activities.

Schwarzenegger said the bill barred any materials or activities that “reflect adversely” on people, which was vague and potentially confusing. He said it “would not strengthen this important area of legal protection from bias based on sexual orientation.”

COLORADO SPRINGS (AP) – Two lesbian couples have dropped their lawsuit against the city of Colorado Springs over its 2003 decision to revoke benefits for same-sex couples.

Kaylynn LaGamma said she did not have the energy to go on with the suit after her partner, former city dispatcher Barbara Henson, died in May. A second couple dropped out earlier.

The City Council extended health benefits to same-sex partners of city workers in 2002. The following year, a new council rescinded the benefits and the lawsuit was filed.

The couples argued the city was violating religious freedom and equality rights, while the city said it had no obligation to offer benefits to people who are not considered married under state law.

A judge threw out the suit earlier this year and the case was on appeal when the couples dropped out.

LaGamma and the plaintiffs’ attorney, Trish Bangert, said they were disappointed with the outcome and the lack of help from gay and lesbian organizations in the state.

Bangert said Referendum 1 on the Nov. 7 statewide ballot would make the lawsuit moot if it is approved. The measure would allows same-sex couples to register as domestic partners and gain the benefits and protections of spouses.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) – Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist won the Republican nomination on Sept. 6 to replace Gov. Jeb Bush, soundly defeating chief financial officer Tom Gallagher, who opposes same-sex marriage.

He will face the Democratic nominee, U.S. Rep. Jim Davis or state Sen. Rod Smith, in the Nov. 7 general election.

“I am enormously grateful to the people of Florida. It’s wonderful, wonderful news,” Crist said. “We have to work that much harder. It’s just the first half and there’s a long way to go.”

Crist ran as someone who champions consumer causes and Bush’s policies – at least when it came to crime, taxes and education. But he wasn’t afraid to step out of line with the governor on some issues.

He questioned Bush’s decision to intervene in the Terri Schiavo right-to-die case and said that he won’t try to change the class-size limits that the governor tried and failed to put back on the ballot.

“All I want to be is the people’s governor and they should rest assured that if they elect me in November, no one will fight harder for the people than Charlie Crist,” he said. “This is a time when we need all of Florida to come together: Republicans, Democrats and independents.”

Gallagher lost despite positioning himself to come across almost exactly the same as Bush all the way down the line, abandoning a more moderate stance on social issues he had the last time he ran for governor for far-right positions opposing all abortions, same-sex marriage, and adoption and stem cell research. He also promised to outlaw billboards for adult businesses like strip clubs.

“Charlie has run a great race against a formidable opponent and will be an excellent candidate in the general election. I look forward to campaigning hard for his election,” Bush said.

At the Crist victory party at the Renaissance Vinoy Resort in St. Petersburg, supporters were hugging and shaking hands as rock music blared. It was a different scene at the Wyndham Grand Bay in Miami’s Coconut Grove neighborhood, where Gallagher supporters turned off the television as results came in.

Instead, they showed slides of Gallagher campaigning. At one point, a small group of supporters brought out a laptop to check returns but quickly put it away.

Both candidates raised a lot of money for the race, with Crist taking in almost $13.9 million, compared to $9.2 million for Gallagher.

CHICAGO (AP) – Democratic committee members have selected an openly gay aide to a Chicago alderman to replace the first openly gay member of the General Assembly on the November ballot.

State Rep. Larry McKeon is retiring when his term ends in January. Greg Harris, a longtime aide to North Side Alderman Mary Ann Smith, will replace him on the ballot, party officials announced.

McKeon said he was pleased with the selection, even though he had recommended someone else for the 13th District seat.

“Greg has a long history of advocating for health and human rights issues, economic development and consumer issues,” McKeon, who is HIV positive, said in a statement posted on his Web site.

Harris, who also is HIV positive, was selected by the Democratic committee members of McKeon’s district and will run unopposed.

McKeon announced his retirement after five terms on July 31. He had recommended Jim Snyder, an attorney with the Illinois Commission on Human Rights, for the ballot vacancy.

A phone message left for McKeon was not immediately returned. Phone messages also were left for Harris at Smith’s aldermanic office.

Before being elected to the state House in 1996, McKeon worked as Chicago Mayor Richard Daley’s liaison to gays and lesbians. He also has been a police officer and teacher.

During his time in office, McKeon advocated in Springfield for legislation barring discrimination against gay and lesbians. In January, a state law prohibiting sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination went into effect.

OMAHA (AP) – The attorneys handling a challenge to Nebraska’s same-sex marriage law haven’t yet decided whether they’ll appeal their latest loss to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The full 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis has refused to reconsider a July ruling by its three-judge panel that reinstated Nebraska’s voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage.

“We haven’t made a decision at this point,” said Ken Upton, a senior staff attorney for Lambda Legal. “We have just begun weighing that option.”

He said his firm is discussing the appeal with its co-counsel, the ACLU’s Lesbian and Gay Project. They have 90 days from the date of the refusal to make their appeal. That would give them until the end of November, he said, because the latest 8th Circuit decision – a one-sentence rejection – was handed down on Aug. 30.

“The state is pleased that the full court has recognized that Nebraskans have the right to amend their constitution as they see fit,” Attorney General Jon Bruning said. “As far as the appeal … we stand ready to defend the choice of Nebraska’s voters in court.”

In July, the three-judge panel overturned U.S. District Judge Joseph Bataillon’s 2005 ruling that the ban was too broad and deprived gays and lesbians of participation in the political process, among other things.

Seventy percent of Nebraska voters had approved the ban as a constitutional amendment in 2000.