FRESNO, Calif. (AP) — Mayor Alan Autry said he wants to suspend a city committee that monitors discrimination and hate crimes after its chairwoman labeled a local organization a “hate group.”

Autry was reacting to a news release Human Relations Commission Chairwoman Debbie Reyes issued stating that “a rally is being organized by a hate group called ‘The Free Republic.’” The statement was stamped with the city of Fresno’s seal.

Reyes said she wrote the news release because “there’s a link on the website that refers to this group as anti-gay and anti-immigration. When intolerance comes to the table, we need to answer that call.”

The Free Republic is a web site operated by Fresno resident Jim Robinson, who introduces it as “an online gathering place for independent, grass-roots conservatism on the Web.”

According to the Human Relations Commission’s news release, “The information on this group’s website clearly indicates threats of violence toward any minority groups that interfere with their rally or picnic.”

However, Autry said there is no evidence the Free Republic is a hate group. He said the commission is “using the city of Fresno as a tool to attack people without cause. This is just something that has to stop.”

Autry said he plans to meet with the city manager and city attorney to discuss suspending the commission “until we find out how this happened, who was involved with the press release and the reason behind it.”

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Gov. John G. Rowland this week signed a gay pride proclamation that includes transgender and bisexual people, after refusing to sign the document for years.

Rowland agreed to ink the proclamation after meeting with community activists, parents and leaders Wednesday, spokeswoman Michele Sullivan told The Hartford Courant.

The proclamation lauds the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex community for its “significant contributions towards the enhancement of our quality of life.”

“I think our office listened to the concerns of the group and had been working closely with them to address their concerns,” Sullivan said.

Rowland issued an official statement last year recognizing Gay Pride Day but excluded bisexual, transgender and intersex individuals. Community groups began blitzing Rowland’s office with phone calls and e-mails to lobby for a more inclusive proclamation.

“This is a history-making event,” said Mike Bracken of Con-Bi-Nation, a political and social group for bisexuals. “Our whole community is being acknowledged by the governor; and we are very, very grateful to both him and his staff for hearing us.”

Activists said they planned to read the proclamation at a gay pride rally and festival at Riverfront Plaza in Hartford.

“We’re not trying to aggravate anybody or ram anything down anyone’s throat,” said Jerimarie Liesegang of the Connecticut TransAdvocacy Coalition. “All we’re saying is that inclusion is important and we wanted our voices heard.”

GAINESVILLE, Ga. (AP) — The bishop of the Diocese of Atlanta, the Rev. J. Neil Alexander, faced a tough audience as he tried to explain the Episcopal Church’s decision to elect its first openly gay bishop.

For two hours, Alexander tried to answer churchgoers’ questions at a public meeting.

At the church’s August convention, Episcopal leaders voted to confirm the election of Bishop V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, an openly gay man. At the convention, Alexander voted in favor of Robinson’s confirmation.

Churchgoer Dennis Bergin was one of those concerned by the decision.

He stood up and told Alexander that his wife and children decided to leave the Episcopal Church because of the decision.

“I’m at a loss,” Bergin said. “My church is being taken away from me. What am I supposed to discount next? When are we going to stop and go back to what God’s word says?”

Alexander told the crowd that they had decided to confront the issue of homosexuality head-on after 30 years of debate.

Other denominations have either put off the issue or pretend that they didn’t have homosexuals in leadership positions, he said.

“What’s killing our sister churches is that they refuse to tell the truth,” Alexander said.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — To the American Civil Liberties Union, Matthew Limon is a young man singled out for unduly harsh punishment because his crime involved gay sex.

Attorney General Phill Kline calls Limon a pedophile, an offender with three convictions who preys on children.

Limon was convicted in 2000 of having sex at age 18 with a 14-year-old boy, when both were residents of a Paola group home for the developmentally disabled. The Kansas Court of Appeals must decide whether Limon's sentence of 17 years and two months in prison is justified for his violation of the state's anti-sodomy law.

Had or the other teen been female, a prosecutor would have had the option of filing the lesser charge of unlawful sexual relations, for which his maximum sentence would have been one year and three months in prison.

Under Kansas law, any sex involving someone under 16 is illegal, no matter what the context. However, the state has a “Romeo and Juliet” statute that allows for lesser penalties if one partner is under 19 and the other is within four years of that age. However, that law specifically applies only to heterosexual couples.

In its legal brief, the ACLU said the state must have “an exceedingly persuasive” justification for the different treatment.

However, Kline said the ACLU is arguing that all people, no matter their sexual orientation, are protected from discrimination. He said that would lead to the legalization of gay marriages — as well as marriages with multiple partners, incestuous marriages and bestiality.

Kline cited a footnote in the ACLU’s brief for Limon in which it said teenagers have a well-established “liberty interest in being free from state compulsion” in making personal decisions about sex and marriage.

“I’ll tell you what: I would be deeply offended if, when my daughter turns 13, she walks out the door to meet her 30-year-old boyfriend, and I say ‘no,’ and she says, ‘I’ve got a 1-800 number for the ACLU; it’s my constitutional right,’” Kline said. “That’s their argument. They have to live with it.”

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. (AP) — The world’s mayors must unite to help fight the AIDS epidemic currently affecting millions of people in Africa, the president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors said after returning from a two-week visit to the continent intended to focus attention on the disease.

“You can read all you want to read about the problem of AIDS in Africa, but until you go there and look in the eyes of children who have no parents because they died of AIDS, you really have no idea,” said James Garner, the mayor of the village of Hempstead, on Long Island. “I looked at these children, and I wanted to take one of them home with me.”

Garner said he joined nine other mayors from cities across the country on the tour of South Africa, Namibia, Swaziland and Uganda. He said he hopes to convene a task force of mayors who can establish ties with their counterparts in African cities to help fight the disease, perhaps under the auspices of the United Nations.

Sub-Saharan Africa is home to 30 million of the world’s 42 million AIDS sufferers.

“Through dialogue, we can examine opportunities that can be mutually beneficial,” Garner said. “We must educate our citizenry about prevention and treatment. It doesn’t matter if it’s in an African city or here in Hempstead.”

The U.S. Conference of Mayors is a nonpartisan group of the chief elected officials from the country’s nearly 1,200 cities with populations of 30,000 or more.

NEW YORK (AP) — Picketers who waved signs strewn with anti-gay epithets greeted students as they started their first day at a high school that was expanded to accommodate gay and lesbian teens.

But supporters of the 72 students and seven teachers at Harvey Milk High School on Astor Place shielded the teens from the protesters as they came to school.

Many of the protesters decried homosexuality as being against God’s laws, calling the teens sodomites and other offensive names.

But others were on hand to defend the students.

“For those of you who say this school is unnecessary, I would refer you to some of the signs and comments from over there,” said City Council Speaker Gifford Miller as he pointed to the picketers.

Education officials announced the $3.2 million expansion of the school in July. The officials said it would eventually house 170 students.

NEW YORK (AP) – Former teen idol Tab Hunter is writing his memoirs, in which he acknowledges he is gay and discusses co-stars including Natalie Wood, Lana Turner and Gary Cooper.

“For anyone curious to know my story, I wanted to be sure that they’re getting it from the horse’s mouth,” the 72-year-old Hunter, star of such 1950s films as Battle Cry and Damn Yankees! said in a recent statement.

The book, currently untitled, is scheduled for release in 2005.

The tall, blond actor was a favorite among young filmgoers in the 1950s. He also had a No. 1 song, the ballad “Young Love.” His career faded in the 1960s, although he later starred in John Waters’ 1981 cult classic Polyester.