ATLANTA (AP) – A federal judge says a gay rights Web site sanctioned by the Georgia Institute of Technology cannot use language that discriminates against religions that condemn homosexuality.

The Safe Space site, a campus resource for gay and lesbian students, gave an overview of various religions’ views toward homosexuality. For instance, it called the Mormon church anti-gay and the Episcopal Church more receptive to gays.

The Alliance Defense Fund sued Georgia Tech in 2006 on behalf of two students who said the university discriminated against students with conservative religious views through policies aimed at protecting the campus from intolerance.

In a ruling April 29, U.S. District Judge J. Owen Forrester ordered religious information removed because it violates the separation of church and state. He denied the students’ request for damages.

University officials said the information was removed a year ago, and that the ruling requires no further action from Tech. They said they disagree with the ruling but do not plan to appeal.

OYSTER BAY, N.Y. (AP) – A gay couple on Long Island couldn’t get a marriage license when they went into their town clerk’s office, but they did get a ticket – for trespassing.

Dan Pinello and Lee Nissensohn risked arrest when they walked into the Oyster Bay clerk’s office on April 28 to apply for a marriage license and launched a sit-in when they were refused. The middle-aged couple walked out two hours later holding trespassing tickets.

The two men hoped their stunt would draw attention to what they argue is a need for a law in New York that would make same-sex marriage legal. They want to pressure state senators to allow a vote on a same-sex marriage bill.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) – Gay rights activists had high expectations for Governor Martin O’Malley. So far, they’re feeling let down.

O’Malley supports civil unions and said during his 2006 campaign that he wanted to extend benefits to same-sex partners of state employees. As Baltimore mayor, O’Malley did the same thing for city employees.

But two legislative sessions into his term, neither of those changes have become a reality. And aides to the governor concede that because of the tight budget, benefits won’t be granted to same-sex partners for at least another year.

Equality Maryland director Dan Furmansky says gay-rights activists are questioning why they worked so hard to elect O’Malley.

But Republicans in the General Assembly say gay rights just aren’t a priority for lawmakers, who have to confront a flagging economy.

NEW YORK CITY (AP) – A children’s story about a family of penguins with two fathers once again tops the list of library books the public objects to the most.

And Tango Makes Three, released in 2005 and co-written by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell, was the most “challenged” book in public schools and libraries for the second straight year, according to the American Library Association.

“The complaints are that young children will believe that homosexuality is a lifestyle that is acceptable. The people complaining, of course, don’t agree with that,” Judith Krug, director of the ALA’s Office for Intellectual Freedom, told The Associated Press on May 6.

The ALA defines a “challenge” as a “formal, written complaint filed with a library or school requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness.”

Other books on the ALA’s top 10 list include Maya Angelou’s memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, in which the author writes of being raped as a young girl; Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, long attacked for alleged racism; and Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass, an anti-religious work in which a former nun says: “The Christian religion is a very powerful and convincing mistake.”

Pullman’s novel, released in 1996, received new attention last year because of the film version starring Nicole Kidman.

Overall, the number of reported library challenges dropped from 546 in 2006 to 420 last year, well below the mid-1990s, when complaints topped 750. For every challenge listed, about four to five go unreported, the library association estimates.

“The atmosphere is a little better than it used to be,” Krug says. “I think some of the pressure has been taken off of books by the Internet, because so much is happening on the Internet.”

According to the ALA, at least 65 challenges last year led to a book being pulled.

In Louisville, Ky., a high school principal told 150 English students to drop Beloved, Toni Morrison’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about an ex-slave who has murdered her baby daughter. At least two parents had complained that Beloved includes depictions of violence, racism and sex.

In Burlingame, Calif., Mark Mathabane’s Kaffir Boy, a memoir about growing up poor and black in apartheid-era South Africa, was banned from an intermediate school after a parent complained about a two-paragraph scene in which men pay boys for sex.

FARMINGTON, N.M. (AP) – A Shiprock man accused in the attack of another man believed to be gay pleaded no contest to reduced charges that dropped a one-year hate crime sentencing enhancement.

Jerry Paul, 40, pleaded no contest to a felony count of false imprisonment and a misdemeanor count of aggravated battery. He faces more than two years in prison.

The victim, Matthew Shetima, told police last September that while he was walking through an alley in Farmington, several men called him over and began hitting him and calling him a faggot. He said the men pulled him into their nearby motel room, where they continued to punch and kick him until he escaped.

Farmington police arrested Paul; Scott Thompson, 22, of Aztec; and Craig Yazzie, 37, of Dennehotso, Ariz.

Yazzie last month pleaded no contest to the same charges as Paul.

Prosecutors allege Thompson was the ringleader. He was not offered a deal and is to go on trial sometime early this month on charges of kidnapping and aggravated battery.

“As of right now, my focus is on Scott Thompson and I don’t foresee backing off on the hate crime enhancement” for him, prosecutor Brent Capshaw said.

Paul and Yazzie, who originally faced charges of kidnapping and aggravated battery, are to be sentenced after Thompson’s trial.

Attorneys for the three said last December that the district attorney was sensationalizing the case with a hate crime prosecution, and that it was unwarranted because they did not go searching for a homosexual to attack.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) – A Memphis high school is accused of violating the privacy of two male students by publicly identifying them as homosexual.

In a letter to the Memphis school board, which was made public Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union said the teenagers were identified as a gay couple on a list of students compiled by the staff at Hollis F. Price Middle College High School.

The list identified dating students as part of attempts to limit public displays of affection on campus and was kept in the principal’s office, the ACLU said.

The ACLU, threatening legal action, asked the board to ban the public exposure of such private information about students.

Van Davis Turner Jr., associate general counsel for the Memphis City Schools Board of Education, said the matter is being taken seriously.

“At this time, we have not completed our internal investigation of this matter. Once we have, we will submit a formal response to the ACLU, directly addressing the issue. We look forward to working with the ACLU to amicably resolve this matter, if possible.”

WASHINGTON (AP) – Celebrated basketball star Earvin “Magic” Johnson is seeking to raise awareness about AIDS.

The former Los Angeles Lakers point guard spoke at Howard University last week as part of a campaign to help minority communities become more educated about the disease.

Washington’s AIDS rate is higher than any other major city in the country, according to a recent D.C. report on the epidemic. Rates are highest among the city’s black population.

Johnson says that to stop spreading the HIV virus that causes AIDS, it’s important for people to get tested. He says people carrying the virus can still look healthy.

Johnson has been living with HIV for almost 17 years.

MILWAUKEE (AP) – An 18-year-old man is pleading not guilty after being accused of having unprotected sex with a woman without telling her he was HIV-positive.

Rick Allen Brown of Milwaukee faces a charge of second-degree reckless endangerment.

According to the criminal complaint, the woman says they had sex three times last year, but Brown denied it to investigators, saying he only kissed her on the cheek.

The woman says Brown’s aunt recently told her Brown is HIV-positive. The woman later received a call from Brown, who allegedly admitted he learned 18 months ago he is HIV-positive.

A judge ordered that Brown stand trial after the accuser told her side of the story in court Tuesday. Brown pleaded not guilty.