BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Leaders of New York’s Democratic Party unanimously approved a resolution supporting a bill allowing same-sex marriages in New York.

“This legislation helps right a longtime wrong, and simply provides same-sex couples with the same legal protections, rights and responsibilities that heterosexual couples acquire when they marry,” said Herman Farrell Jr., state party chairman and a state assemblyman from Manhattan.

The resolution was adopted during the Democrats’ semiannual organizational meeting.

The vote was the first time the state party had called for legalizing gay marriages. But Emily Giske, vice chairwoman of the party, said the resolution is in line with other stands Democrats have taken in favor of the Sexual Orientation Non-Discrimination Act and other state laws that ensure equal treatment for same-sex couples.

“Lesbian and gay partners have long been treated like second-class couples under current state law,” said Giske. “There is no reason that they should not be granted equal civil status.”

“Civil marriage is the primary way in which government grants hundreds and hundreds of benefits and protections to Americans and their families,” said Alan Van Capelle, executive director of Empire State Pride Agenda. “To allow some families to have access to these while denying others creates two classes of citizens — one less equal than the other.”

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Tucson police were investigating the attack of a man who was lured out of a gay bar and jumped by several men.

No arrests have been made in the Aug. 27 incident, but police are investigating it as a hate crime.

According to a Tucson police report, a man approached a 37-year-old patron in a bar and began talking with him. They shared a pitcher of beer, and then the man asked the patron to go to his nearby house.

When the patron walked down the street with the man, four men approached the patron and attacked him, police said. The victim fought back and ran to the bar.

He suffered a broken arm and scrapes and cuts, police said.

“The victim believes this is because he was gay, and there is that possibility,” said Detective Tim Rupel.

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — Same-sex couples in Tucson will soon be able to document their relationship on city rolls.

The aim of the registry, approved by the city council last week, is to provide non-married partners with visitation privileges at city hospitals.

It also applies to partners in heterosexual relationships.

Although the registry offers few tangible benefits, members of the gay and lesbian community say it’s a huge symbolic statement and the first of its kind in Arizona.

To qualify, both partners must be over 18, not be blood relatives and sign a statement that they are in an exclusive relationship.

Couples can join the registry beginning on Dec. 1.

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) — Jurors decided a gay city worker wasn’t passed over for promotion because he is gay.

Brad Edwards, who worked in the city’s Public Works Department, filed a job discrimination suit against the city, but the jury ruled, 9-3, that there was no gay discrimination.

Afterward, however, jurors criticized city hiring practices.

“The city really needs to clean up their act,” juror Nancy Anderson said. “All of us felt the city’s hiring practices were very shoddy.... But there was no discrimination due to his sexual orientation.”

The jurors’ main complaint was that city officials had selected a candidate before they even interviewed Edwards for the position of solid waste specialist.

City officials said jurors didn’t understand the difference between recruitment and pre-selection. But jurors said they fully comprehend the difference and that city officials knew who they were going to hire before recruitment began.

An independent interview board ranked Edwards, 31, first among eight qualified applicants. Officials said, however, that board ranking was just one of the many elements used in hiring.

“I’m disappointed with the jury’s decision, but hopefully it’s a wake-up call for the city,” Edwards said. “Going through the trial will have been worth it if the jurors’ comments show the city that things are not right.”

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The second-highest ranking official in the Episcopal Diocese of Central Florida has resigned over a rift developing between the local diocese and the national church over the ordainment of gays.

The Rev. Ernest Bennett circulated an e-mail to other ministers in the diocese citing his “deepest pain” over the direction the diocese is heading. Delegates at a central Florida diocesan convention last weekend deleted the words “Episcopal Church” from a resolution pledging the diocese’s unity with the worldwide Anglican Communion and the See of Canterbury.

The vote came in response last month to Episcopal leaders at a national convention approving the Rev. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire to be the first openly gay bishop.

As a delegate to the national convention, Bennett voted against Robinson’s confirmation and a resolution that said same-sex blessing ceremonies are consistent with church teachings. But he said the vote last weekend in Orlando takes the diocese “to a place I cannot go.”

“I am a priest in the Episcopal Church and I intend to stay,” he said.

Some priests in the diocese said they disagreed with Bennett’s interpretation of the vote last weekend, adding that the vote only signaled disapproval with actions taken at the national convention.

“Most of us are just angry at the General Convention for putting us in this place,” said the Rev. Dave Wilson of Winter Park.

Bishop John Howe acknowledged that Bennett’s departure is a sign of strong differences within the diocese. Neither he nor the diocese have any plan to leave the Episcopal Church, Howe said.

“There is division throughout the whole church, that’s the problem,” Howe said.

BARTOW, Fla. (AP) — A Lakeland man has received a 10-year prison sentence after admitting to having sex with a woman without telling her he was HIV-positive.

Louis Cecil Sanders, 32, pleaded guilty to two counts of the third-degree felony that makes it a crime for an HIV-infected person to have sexual intercourse without disclosing to their partner that they have the AIDS virus.

Sanders became the first person to be convicted of the crime in Polk County during the hearing before Circuit Judge Roger Alcott. Sanders is only one of a handful to be prosecuted across the state. The law was enacted in 1997.

Jeff Holmes, Sanders’ attorney, had originally planned to challenge the constitutionality of the statute on the grounds that it was vague and might violate a person’s right to privacy. But he elected not to pursue his challenge after prosecutors threatened to withdraw their plea offer and file additional charges against Sanders.

The State Attorney’s Office could have filed a charge against Sanders for each time he had sexual intercourse with a partner who was unaware of his health status. Holmes said his client could have faced 30 years to life in prison.

Sanders pleaded guilty to charges involving only one woman. But prosecutors had said that he infected at least three women with the AIDS virus and fathered 10 children with nine different women.

“The disposition serves both to punish the defendant and also protects women from further potential harm by the defendant,” Assistant State Attorney Wayne Durden said.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The city has taken steps toward terminating a land-use agreement with Philadelphia’s Boy Scout council over its policy of refusing to admit openly gay members.

William T. Dwyer III, executive director of the Cradle of Liberty Council, said the mayor’s chief of staff told him earlier this month that the city had decided to end the agreement, which entitled the council to free use of a city-owned property.

The city has said the council’s stance on gay membership conflicted with its fair-practices ordinance.

Cradle of Liberty, the third-largest council in the nation, could use an alternative office in suburban Philadelphia if removed from its current space, said David H. Lipson, the council’s board chairman.

“I think we would consolidate to one space,” Lipson said.

Boy Scouts representatives were scheduled to meet with city officials.