News & Commentary

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEMarch 5, 2007LITTLE ROCK, AR – The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas today firmly denounced a bill introduced to the Arkansas State Legislature that would ban gay people and most unmarried heterosexual couples who live together from adopting or serving as foster parents. The bill was introduced today, just months after the state supreme court unanimously struck down a ban on fostering by gay people.“This bill flies in the face of what all respected child welfare organizations, social scientists, and Arkansans themselves know about what’s best for the children in our foster care system,” said Jim Harper, L.C.S.W., L.M.F.T., a Little Rock social worker who works with abused children and their families. “Foster care and adoptive placements should be made after careful, individualized screening of each potential parent, regardless of who he or she is. A blanket exclusion of any group of people that might be able to provide loving, stable homes when we have so many children in need of homes in our state foster care system is unconscionable.”SB 959, introduced today by Shawn Womack (R-Mountain Home), would categorically ban lesbian and gay Arkansans from adopting or serving as foster parents, even if they’re relatives of the children in question. It would also ban unmarried heterosexual couples who live together unless they’re related to the child, which could prevent godparents or family friends from caring for a child if the parents die or can’t keep the child. “SB 959 is a heavy-handed and ill-conceived attempt to do an end run around the Arkansas Supreme Court, which has already struck down a regulation that didn’t even go as far as this bill does,” said Rita Sklar, Executive Director of the ACLU of Arkansas.  “The proponents of this bill only care about singling out gay people and unmarried couples at the expense of children in need of good homes.  They don’t care if an applicant is the child’s aunt or uncle, if that applicant has already been caring for the child or has a strong bond with the child – that child will be denied the comfort of that home if the applicant is gay.”Arkansas’s Child Welfare Agency Review Board had established a policy in 1999 that banned gay people from serving as foster parents, and the Arkansas Supreme Court struck it down after a seven-year legal battle between the state and the ACLU. Several prominent child welfare groups took an interest in the case, with friend-of-the-court briefs being submitted by Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, the Child Welfare League of America, the National Association of Social Workers and its Arkansas chapter, the American Psychological Association and its Arkansas chapter, and the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute. These groups urged the court to strike down the exclusion because it worked against the best interests of foster children.In overturning the earlier ban, the Arkansas Supreme Court wrote, “(T)he driving force behind adoption of the regulation was not to promote the health, safety, and welfare of foster children, but rather based upon the Board’s view of morality and its bias against homosexuals.” The individualized assessments of potential adoptive or foster parents favored by child welfare organizations and social scientists are supported by most Arkansans as well. According to a 2005 poll conducted by the University of Arkansas, nearly two thirds of the respondents favored allowing placements with gay people if they pass the screening requirements that apply to everyone else.More information on the ACLU case that overturned the earlier ban can be found online at http://www.aclu.org/lgbt/parenting/12137res20050301.html.

Please see document referenced below in the documents section.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE?December 8, 2006CONTACT: Rita Sklar or Holly DicksonLITTLE ROCK - With the winter holiday season approaching and with the intent of avoiding potential conflict during what is a joyous season for millions, today the ACLU of Arkansas sent out letters to Arkansas school superintendents giving guidance on issues regarding religion and the public schools. The letter addresses two issues: whether there is a place for religious holidays in the public schools, and whether or not schools may make religious material available to students.“I believe the reason there is often so much contention about religion and the public schools is the fact that most of us do not receive an adequate education about how the Bill of Rights protects our rights, and what that means in practical situations — I know I didn’t.” said ACLU of Arkansas executive director Rita Sklar. “I was never taught in school that the reason America has the greatest religious diversity and religious freedom on the planet is because we have government-free religion, for example, and I believe many of us don’t see that when the government supports or promotes religion, religion is no longer government-free.”The letter addresses the question of religious holidays first. It reminds superintendents that the proper role of schools is to educate students in a fair, unbiased, objective, and balanced manner, with respect for different religions. The letter says, in part, “The First Amendment balances freedom of religious belief and expression with freedom from state-imposed expression... [P]ublic schools should not inhibit or disparage religious belief or non-belief, nor should public schools promote, sponsor, or endorse any particular religion, belief, or religious activities. Any public school’s approach to religious holidays should be offered in the spirit of education, and not promoting religious beliefs. ... Public schools may provide instruction about religious traditions and beliefs ... and schools may teach students about religious holidays. ... Education about religion or religious holidays must be explained in an unbiased and objective manner. However, schools may not use their influence to promote a particular religious belief or belief over non-belief either through instruction, observance of holidays as religious events, or encouraging students to observe religious holidays.”The letter also discusses the issue of school performances, noting that school concerts that present a variety of selections may include religious music, but that concerts should not be dominated by religious music, especially when they coincide with a particular religious holiday or are used to promote religion. Plays portraying the Hanukkah miracle or Nativity pageants are entirely inappropriate for the public school setting.Last week, the Baxter Bulletin newspaper reported that Pinkston Middle School in Mountain Home announced to students during lunch that Bibles were available for students outside the cafeteria, and that any student wanting a Bible could pick one up. The ACLU asked the Mountain Home Public School District to discontinue this practice and included this subject in the letter the ACLU planned to send to superintendents on religious holidays. “A school’s participation in or supervision of such activities, such as the Gideons’ Bible distribution, impermissibly suggests that the program is a valid part of a legally required education,” says the letter. “The practice also carries the unmistakable message that acceptance of the Bible or other materials is the norm, and that non-adherents are something less than full members of the school community.... [Furthermore, t]here is no difference between school officials allowing Gideons or any other religious group to hand these materials to students personally or to put religious materials out on a table for students to take ‘of their own free will,’ or for the school to put the materials on the table, whether they came from an outside group or another source. What some perceive as a neutral act of ‘allowing’ students to choose whether to take materials is in fact not neutral, and constitutes school action.”“The purpose of the letter is to assist the schools by outlining common questions and issues and help school officials and students have a less stressful holiday season,” ACLU staff attorney Holly Dickson said. “As we were drafting it, we received a report of another school district where students were told in class to come forward if they wanted to receive a Bible. That’s a hair away from an altar call,” Dickson said, “and it violates the First Amendment.”“We can’t have the freedom to express our religious beliefs and allow the government to promote religion,” said Sklar, “we just can’t have it both ways.”The ACLU has published a list of some of the freedom of religious expression cases the ACLU brought in the last few years years. A copy of the letter to school districts and a short list of the freedom of expression cases are available below. The full list is available on the ACLU’s website .

ACLU of Arkansas Action Results in Removal of Evolution Disclaimers From Science TextbooksFebruary 10, 2005

ACLU Praises Arkansas Board of Cosmetology for Quickly Confirming that People With HIV Are Not Barred From Practicing CosmetologyJune 2, 2005

ACLU Urges State to Clarify Regulation Used by Cosmetology School to Justify Kicking Out HIV Positive StudentJune 2, 2005

ACLU Applauds School Board Vote to Remove Evolution Disclaimers From Science TextbooksJuly 14, 2005

ACLU of Arkansas Protects’ Student and Family Privacy:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEDecember 19, 2005CONTACT: Rita Sklar, (501) 374–2660; Chris Hampton, (212) 549-2673LITTLE ROCK – Joined by an array of national child advocacy organizations, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a brief today asking the Arkansas Supreme Court to uphold an earlier court decision striking down a state regulation that banned gay people and anyone living in a household with a gay adult from being foster parents in the state. The trial court had found that living with gay or lesbian parents doesn’t harm children.“This anti-gay foster parenting ban goes against the recommendation of every major children’s health and welfare organization in the country,” said Rita Sklar, Executive Director of the ACLU of Arkansas. “These experts understand all too well how this policy hurts the many children in Arkansas in need of safe, stable homes.”The lawsuit was filed against the state in 1999 on behalf of four prospective foster parents. In addition to today’s brief from the ACLU, several other groups have submitted friend-of-the-court briefs in the case, including the Child Welfare League of America, the National Association of Social Workers and its Arkansas chapter, and the American Psychological Association.“One thing that the proponents of this policy can’t seem to explain is, ‘How do they expect the state to find homes for the children in Arkansas who need foster care when you diminish the already small pool of potential parents?’” said Rob Woronoff, a program manager with the Child Welfare League of America. “Policymakers should heed the advice of the child welfare professionals who know that the best way to meet the needs of foster children is to assess all prospective parents on a case-by-case basis.”Four friend-of-the-court briefs, representing a broad range of support for ending the foster care ban, were filed today in support of the ACLU’s lawsuit. These included: