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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Initiatives Enter Signature Phase Anti-Gay, Anti-Abortion Efforts Have July 1996 Deadline

Associated Press

Attorney General Alan Lance on Monday cleared the way for the Idaho Citizens Alliance to begin collecting signatures on its controversial anti-gay and anti-abortion initiatives.

Lance released the ballot titles that will accompany the initiatives - the final step required by alliance founder Kelly Walton and his ally to begin their search for 41,335 registered voter signatures.

The secretary of state’s office forwarded the documents to the alliance about midafternoon on Monday along with a cover letter detailing the legal requirements for the form of the petitions and an admonition to avoid boldfaced type declaring the alliance’s personal title for the propositions.

The anti-gay initiative is labeled by the alliance as “The Family and Child Protection Act,” and the anti-abortion initiative is called “The Mother and Parental Child Protection Act.”

Walton was also asked to submit the printed petitions to the secretary of state for review before signature gathering begins, but he is not legally required to do that.

The alliance has until next July 5 to come up with the signatures needed to put the propositions on the general election ballot.

Both initiatives were revised following Lance’s initial evaluation of their legal viability, but critics maintain each remains flawed.

The anti-gay initiative, a revision of the one voters only narrowly rejected last fall, prohibits state or local laws protecting homosexuals from discrimination. Eliminated were controversial restrictions on library access to materials containing information on or about homosexuals or homosexuality.

The anti-abortion proposition would prohibit all abortions on a viable fetus as determined by federal law and court ruling. That is currently after the 20th week of pregnancy.

The ban was moved back from the 13th week of pregnancy because of federal court decisions.