SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) – A former adjunct biology professor is suing San Jose City College district for firing her because she told a class about the work of a German scientist who maintains that stress during a mother’s pregnancy can cause male homosexuality.

June Sheldon alleges in the federal district court suit filed July 16 that the district’s board of trustees violated her rights to academic freedom and due process in February when it voted to end her four-year career at City College after a student complained about the comments.

Sheldon, of Soquel, says she brought up the scientist’s research as part of her response to another student’s question about the link between homosexuality and heredity.

The college district’s lawyer did not immediately return a call for comment.

ALLENDALE, Mich. (AP) – The trustees at Grand Valley State University have added partner benefits to employee health insurance.

They will apply to gay partners as well as any other live-in partners who are unrelated adults and have lived for at least 18 months with a faculty member or staff employee.

University counsel Tom Butcher tells The Grand Rapids Press that the change isn’t simply same-sex benefits repackaged under another name, noting those are banned by law in Michigan.

Butcher says the school is recognizing people who live in the same household by extending benefits to them irrespective of their gender or marital status.

The Allendale-based school hopes that the three-year pilot program will help recruit and retain talented educators.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – A federal appeals court says Philadelphia police were justified in directing protesters to move when they disrupted a gay street festival in 2004.

A three-judge panel ruled July 15 that anti-gay activists had a First Amendment right to demonstrate. But the judges say they didn’t have a right to disrupt speakers at the 2004 OutFest event.

Eleven protesters affiliated with Repent America filed a lawsuit challenging their arrests when they disobeyed police orders to move. Repent America founder Michael Marcavage said the group tried to convey its message but was not disruptive.

The appeals court says a video shows the group tried to drown out speakers at the event. The judges say the right of free speech does not encompass the right to cause disruption.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) – A South Carolina tourism employee has resigned after an outcry over an advertising effort to attract gay tourists.

Spokesman Marion Edmonds says the unidentified South Carolina Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism employee submitted a resignation before meeting with upper management.

Last week, the state agency dropped out of the ad campaign that tied to Pride week celebrations in London that included ads saying “South Carolina is so gay.” Edmonds said managers didn’t know about the promotion until reading a release from an advertising company.

Director Chad Prosser said last week the agency would not pay a fee of nearly $5,000 to participate in the campaign, which had been proposed by the state’s London advertising coordinator.

Greenville Sen. David Thomas has called for an audit of the agency.

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) – The Christian Methodist Episcopal’s College of Bishops has suspended Bishop Kenneth Wayne Carter, who was indicted on sexual assault charges involving a 46-year-old man, officials said.

Carter, 51, was suspended with pay last week until his criminal case is resolved.

Senior Bishop William Graves at the CME headquarters in Memphis did not return phone calls seeking comment. Carter and his attorney, Brian Salvant, did not return phone calls seeking comment, a story in July 15’s online edition of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported.

A Tarrant County grand jury last month indicted Carter, who was released on $10,000 bail last week.

A licensed minister at a Dallas CME church alleges Carter sexually assaulted him last year when he went to Carter’s Arlington home to be interviewed for a driving job. The minister says he went to the interview despite his misgivings about Carter’s “homosexual tendencies.”

Carter has said he had consensual sex with the minister, who he said was the aggressor, according to court records.

Before being elected bishop in 2006, Carter served 10 years as pastor at the Carter Metropolitan CME Church in Fort Worth.

The Associated Press does not identify sexual assault victims.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – Dyana Mason, head of Equality Virginia, will leave the state’s largest gay advocacy group at the end of the year.

Mason says she’s seen the group grow and feels “it is my time to move on.”

Hired in 2003, Mason shepherded the organization through a 2006 campaign opposing a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage in the commonwealth.

Virginia voters eventually approved the ban, joining some two dozen other states.

Mark Board, the chair of the Board of Equality Virginia, says the group will conduct a nationwide search for a new leader.

WASHINGTON (AP) – A bill designed to combat AIDS globally is expected to include $2 billion for American Indians, according to South Dakota Sen. John Thune.

Thune, a Republican, and other senators pushing for the Indian money as part of the $50 billion AIDS bill made a deal with Democratic leaders late July 15. The agreement will include $1 billion for water projects on Indian reservations, $750 million for tribal law enforcement and $250 million for Indian health care services.

The deal is similar to an amendment Thune was planning to offer to the legislation. But under the new agreement, the money would be added to the bill with no objections and no roll call vote.

“Unless something dramatic happens (when the bill is considered) we should be able to get this accepted,” Thune said Tuesday. “It’s a commitment that I don’t think we’ve seen around here for a while to improve the quality of life on reservations.”

Thune said he even recruited New York Sen. Hillary Clinton to support the amendment. Clinton visited South Dakota during her failed Democratic presidential bid and had expressed interest in doing more for reservations, he said.

Thune and other sponsors thought the amendment was appropriate as part of legislation that aimed to help poor communities.

“While I applaud U.S. leadership when it comes to combating HIV/AIDS overseas, my amendment seeks to ensure we don’t turn our backs on some of the most critical issues here at home,” he said.

The AIDS legislation would vastly expand a program backed by President Bush that has had marked success in combating AIDS in Africa and other affected areas of the world. It would approve $50 billion over the next five years.

The money would not be distributed upon passage of the legislation, however. It still would have to be appropriated by congressional spending committees.

Large-scale trial of new AIDS vaccine dropped, smaller test will be

WASHINGTON (AP) – Plans for a large-scale trial of a potential AIDS vaccine are being dropped in favor of a smaller, more focused study, the National Institutes of Health said.

The trial of the vaccine, developed by the Vaccine Research Center at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease, had been planned to include 2,400 men in the United States in a study called PAVE 100.

However, the agency said Thursday that it has decided that the vaccine did not warrant a trial of this size and scope. Instead NIAID said it will plan a smaller, more focused clinical trial designed to see whether the product has a significant effect on the amount of virus in a person’s blood.

If an effect is found, then additional studies, or an expansion of the study could be carried out.

NIAID said it acted after reviewing the results of the STEP trial, a study of another vaccine that was halted last fall after reports of an increased number of infections among volunteers taking part in the test.

The agency said it still considers its vaccine scientifically intriguing and sufficiently different from other vaccines to proceed with the smaller trial.