VENTURA, Calif. (AP) – A 14-year-old boy charged with killing a gay classmate will have a mental exam to determine whether he is competent to stand trial.

A Ventura County judge on Oct. 21 appointed a psychiatrist and a psychologist to evaluate Brandon McInerney of Oxnard and report back in three weeks. The boy’s lawyers requested the evaluation.

McInerney has been charged as an adult in the February shooting of 15-year-old Larry King at their junior high school. He has pleaded not guilty.

He could face 51 years in prison if convicted of first-degree murder and a hate crime. If he’s found mentally incompetent, a prosecutor says he’ll probably go to a mental hospital.

FRESNO, Calif. (AP) – The Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin is sanctioning 36 priests and 16 deacons who it says have abandoned the church.

Those priests and deacons are part of a group that broke away from the Episcopal Church in December over differences on the role of gays and women in the church. The group instead aligned itself with the international Anglican Communion.

After the priests and deacons failed to respond to a letter by the diocese, Bishop Jerry Lamb temporarily banned them from doing their jobs with Episcopal congregations for six months. If they choose not to return to the church during that period, they will be deposed.

A spokesman for the breakaway group says the clergy will continue their work because the Anglican Communion recognizes them as ordained.

LOS ANGELES (AP) – California’s first lady says she is voting against a ballot initiative that would prohibit same-sex couples from getting married in California.

Maria Shriver said in an interview with KNBC-TV in Los Angeles that she is voting “no” on Proposition 8.

Shriver said, “I believe in people’s right to choose a partner that they love, and that’s a decision that I have come to, and I have felt that way for a long time.”

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger also opposes Prop. 8.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Apple Inc. has joined the short list of publicly traded companies to oppose a ballot measure that would ban same-sex marriage in California.

The Cupertino-based computer and iPod maker said on its Web site Friday it made a $100,000 pledge to defeat Proposition 8.

The statement says Apple views the initiative as a civil rights issue. An Apple spokesman declined to elaborate.

Jeans maker Levi Strauss & Co. gave $25,000 last month to fight the initiative.

Same-sex marriage became legal in California in June.

DURHAM, Conn. (AP) – Connecticut justices of the peace say they’re ready to perform gay marriages following a state Supreme Court ruling earlier this month.

Connecticut’s Supreme Court has ruled that same-sex couples have the right to wed rather than accept a civil union law.

The issue came up over the weekend at the annual conference of justices of the peace at Durham Town Hall.

The president of the Justice of the Peace Association says the organization does not require its members to marry any couple, but they do abide by a code of ethics.

Saul Haffer says in general, their belief is in personal freedom.

Justices have also not been told whether they will be required to marry gay couples, as their colleagues in Massachusetts were.

HELENA, Mont. (AP) – The board of directors at the Lewis and Clark Public Library voted Tuesday to keep on the shelves a book about gay sex.

Board chairwoman Carole Byrnes acknowledged the book, titled “The Joy of Gay Sex,” included graphic pictures and descriptions but said she viewed it as an instructional, education manual that shouldn’t be censored.

Helena resident Paul Cohen found the book during a visit to the library in February and requested that it be removed. He described the book as “pornographic” and said the library was negligent in providing a “safe place” for children and adolescents.

The library’s collection review committee recommended keeping the book, and Director Judy Hart agreed. She said it was the library’s obligation to provide information to all elements of society.

But Cohen challenged the decision, and the library held a public hearing in September. The board received and reviewed about 200 written submissions on the matter.

Board member Jesse Franzen said library policy states that patrons are free to select or reject materials for themselves or their own minor children, but not free to restrict the freedom of others to read or inquire.

“I believe the library policies have been followed impeccably with grace and great respect, and again I thank our staff,” Franzen said.

Cohen said he wasn’t surprised by the 5-0 decision, but called the notion that books can’t be judged “absurd.”

NEW YORK CITY (AP) – Prosecutors are investigating allegations that five New York City police officers attacked a tattoo parlor worker and sodomized him with a walkie-talkie in a subway station.

Michael Mineo, 24, says the officers then wrote him a disorderly conduct ticket and abandoned him as he was writhing in pain.

The police department disputes the allegations and strongly denies the man was sodomized.

“Police officers grappled with an individual who they observed smoking marijuana after he had fled and resisted being handcuffed. His assertion that he was sodomized is not supported by independent civilian witnesses on the scene,” NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said in a statement.

The case is being investigated by the police department and the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office.

Mineo’s attorney, Stephen Jackson, says a hospital administrator contacted the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office because it appeared Mineo was the victim of a sexual assault.

Jackson said medical records corroborate Mineo’s story, but would not immediately provide copies of them. Mineo was not available to speak. Brookdale Hospital officials confirmed that he was admitted on Oct. 15 and discharged four days later.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints won’t use Utah volunteers who were asked to be prepared to make phone calls in support of a California ballot measure to ban same-sex marriage.

In a letter from a regional leader of the church, members in parts of Utah County were told Sunday that their help isn’t needed.

Earlier this month the church rallied a stable of volunteers after a request from the Coalition to Protect Marriage.

Church spokeswoman Kim Farah says the church has since decided that the calls should be made by those who are registered voters in California.

The Mormon church is part of a coalition of faiths and conservative groups working to pass Proposition 8. The Nov. 4 ballot measure would ban same-sex marriage in California’s constitution.

PULLMAN, Wash. (AP) – Three possible hate crimes targeting gay students are being investigated by Pullman and Washington State University police.

University spokesman James Tinney says officials are looking at two assaults on campus and one on College Hill within the last week. Each case involves seemingly unprovoked attacks on students, though it’s unclear whether the incidents are related.

The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Transgender student group met this week with school administrators and campus police to discuss the situation.

Pullman police Cmdr. Chris Tennant says detectives have been assigned to investigate a weekend assault in which three men wearing Halloween masks knocked a man to the ground and kicked him repeatedly. The man suffered a possible collapsed lung.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) – Law enforcement agencies reported a slight decrease in hate crimes last year, despite an increase against gays and lesbians.

The FBI reported more than 7,600 hate crime incidents in 2007, down about 1 percent from last year.

Racially motivated hate crimes accounted for more than half of that total. Religious bias was the second-leading motive for hate crimes, followed by prejudice against sexual orientation.

Within those categories, the FBI report found most hate crimes tended to be anti-black, anti-Jewish and anti-gay.

The FBI report is purely statistical and does not assign a cause for the slight overall decrease or the 6 percent increase in anti-gay hate crimes.