SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – California’s high court last week set a March date to hear arguments over the legality of gay marriage in the state.

The Supreme Court will hear three hours of arguments on the issue March 4 in San Francisco. Justices then have 90 days to rule.

The six consolidated cases being heard together challenge state laws limiting marriage to opposite-sex couples. The Supreme Court has banned same-sex marriages in the state until it decides the issue.

The plaintiffs are the city of San Francisco, the state’s leading gay advocacy group and several same-sex couples who have not been allowed to marry. They are being opposed by the attorney general, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and activists who argue only voters can overturn the existing marriage statues.

Gay marriage opponents have been gathering signatures to qualify ballot measures for the June and November elections that would make gay marriage illegal under the California Constitution and in some cases, revoke the spousal rights same-sex couples now have if they register as domestic partners.

So far, no state court has joined Massachusetts in recognizing marriage as a civil right. Along with California, Connecticut and Iowa also have cases pending on whether allowing gays to enter into civil unions and domestic partnerships provides a legal equivalent to getting married.

The case is In Re Marriage Cases, Case No. S147999.

ELIZABETH, N.J. (AP) – A judge has ordered the boyfriend of former Gov. Jim McGreevey to turn over records from three joint bank accounts the gay couple share as part of the ongoing divorce proceedings between McGreevey and his estranged wife.

However, Australian-born investment manager Mark O’Donnell won’t be forced to reveal his salary, stock portfolio or any financial dealings with New Jersey politicians, Union County Superior Court Judge Karen Cassidy ruled Thursday.

Cassidy said O’Donnell’s other finances are not relevant to McGreevey’s divorce case.

“We’re now dragging in people who really aren’t that involved,” Cassidy said. “I’m really concerned about opening that door.”

Dina Matos McGreevey sought broad access to O’Donnell’s ledger sheet, contending the gay couple’s money is intertwined.

Of the three accounts, one checking account had $195,000 in deposits over 10 months, court papers showed. Another has a near-zero balance; details about the third account were not disclosed in court.

O’Donnell is chief investment officer of the Kushner Companies, a private real estate development firm chaired by Charles Kushner, a once-prominent Democratic campaign donor who served time in federal prison for campaign and tax-law violations.

Matos McGreevey subpoenaed O’Donnell, trying unsuccessfully to require him to turn over his employment contract with Kushner, and e-mails and other financial correspondence with state Sen. Ray Lesniak and Rahway Mayor Jim Kennedy, both friends.

She also sought to find out who paid for a trip to China last summer that included McGreevey, O’Donnell, and another man.

McGreevey’s partner argued that his assets should be kept private. He said in court papers he is not financially responsible for Dina McGreevey or the couple’s 6-year-old daughter.

Neither of the McGreeveys nor O’Donnell attended the proceeding. Lawyers for Matos McGreevey and O’Donnell left the court room without commenting on the ruling.

“I’m very happy that the court has decided to protect my privacy,” O’Donnell said by phone following the court hearing. “I’ve never met Dina McGreevey, and I never understood why she was so obsessed with my finances. Hopefully, she can now move on.”

The McGreeveys are battling over child support and custody issues. She currently gets $2,500 a month.

They will be back in court next week to argue over whether Matos McGreevey should be compelled to be interviewed by child custody experts he has hired.

McGreevey surprised the nation when he announced in August 2004 that he was “a gay American” and would resign. He said he had been the target of a blackmail threat from a former lover who was on his staff.

NEW YORK (AP) – A woman who blamed her lesbian lover for the beating death of her 23-month-old son was convicted Feb. 7 of murder in the toddler’s slaying.

Zahira Matos showed no emotion when the jury in Manhattan’s state Supreme Court pronounced her guilty of second-degree murder and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child in its third day of deliberations.

Matos, 23, faces a minimum of 15 years to life in prison and a maximum of 25 years to life when Justice Maxwell Wiley sentences her next month for the September 2004 murder of Yovany “Papo” Tellez.

Matos was charged with murder because she recklessly waited as long as five hours to call 911 after her drunken domestic partner, Carmen Molina, gave the boy a fatal beating for soiling his pants.

Assistant District Attorney Kerry O’Connell told the jury that Matos was on trial “for what she did not do.”

Testifying in her own defense, Matos said she did not realize the boy had been so seriously injured by Molina.

Molina, 35, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced in May 2007 to 15 years to life in prison for Yovany’s death.

“I punched Papo on his right side,” Molina said in a written statement filed with the court. “I punched him a second time, and he fell.”

While admitting that she beat the boy, she seemed to try to shift blame for his death to her ex.

When Yovany died, he had a lacerated liver, broken ribs and a broken leg, and he was covered in feces, prosecutors said during trial. More than 40 bruises covered his body, they said.

Matos’ lawyer, Arthur Friedman, said after the verdict that he will appeal.

Yovany was Matos’ third child. The other two are being raised by her mother.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Oral arguments are scheduled Monday in an appeal of a lawsuit over protesters using bullhorns at a gay street festival in Philadelphia.

The activists contend that city police violated their free-speech rights by arresting them at the 2004 Outfest event. A federal judge ruled in the city’s favor last year, saying, “There is no constitutional right to drown out the speech of another person.”

The judge noted that the Outfest event had a permit from the city but the protesters didn’t apply for a permit.

The protesters are 11 people affiliated with a conservative Christian group called Repent America. Their lawyer describes the arrest as punishment for expressing Christian beliefs in public.

PITTSBURGH (AP) – Nearly 100 lay leaders in the Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh signed an open letter supporting their bishop in removing the diocese from the national church for a more conservative alignment.

The letter was in response to another letter written last month to Bishop Robert Duncan by 12 conservative clergy outlining their opposition to removing the diocese’s 66 churches from the national Episcopal Church, the Anglican body in the United States.

“We were just talking about the letter that the 12 clergy had written openly to the diocese and we were concerned that people might not understand the whole story,” said Edith M. Humphrey, a professor of New Testament at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary.

The clergy members said they were concerned about protracted court cases that might stem from realigning with the worldwide Anglican Communion.

The one-page response from the laity says the diocese “can no longer travel with a national Episcopal body that is departing from its foundations,” referring to past decisions to conduct same-sex marriages and consecrate the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.

The response, which Humphrey said would be spread through the diocese, also said the bishop had done everything possible to keep the matter out of the courts.

The Pittsburgh diocese voted in November to realign with the 77-million-member Anglican Communion, which believes the Bible forbids gay relationships, while a majority in the Episcopal Church does not.

Last month, the national church’s presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori told Duncan that she had sought permission from an Episcopal committee to inhibit him, which would bar him from performing religious duties.

The committee blocked the national Episcopal Church from imposing the penalty, but the Episcopal House of Bishops is expected to consider imposing the punishment later this year.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – A woman who claims she was fired from the University of Utah because she is a lesbian has filed a discrimination lawsuit against the school.

Court papers filed in Third District Court allege Heidi Borjesson was fired from her job for “arbitrary personal reasons,” including her appearance, sexual orientation and because she “mothered animals” at her home instead of children.

Borjesson, 44, was employed at the university for 12 years and was an associate accountant in the physics department when fired in January 2005. The lawsuit also alleges Borjesson’s supervisor was outspoken about her dislike of Borjesson’s sexual orientation.

University spokesman Remi Barron said Friday that Borjesson was let go because her position was abolished as part of a staff reduction.

Borjesson filed a grievance but a mediator upheld the dismissal, he said.

“The University of Utah does not discriminate against any employee because of sexual orientation or any other reason,” Barron said.