MOBILE, Ala. (AP) – A Mobile County judge has rejected some anti-gay prospective jurors who declared they do not approve of the lifestyle of the cross-dressing defendant.

At least three potential jurors were sent home Oct. 27 after expressing their disdain or outright disgust.

The court then seated 14 jurors to hear the murder charge against 30-year-old female impersonator John Frederick Burton, who is accused of killing 23-year-old Francisco Carlos Randolph.

Prosecutors argued that Burton was mad at Randolph for borrowing his car without permission and plunged a pair of scissors into Randolph’s chest, penetrating his heart. But defense attorneys said a drunken Randolph ran into the scissors being held by Burton during an argument.

TORRANCE, Calif. (AP) – A Torrance man has been charged with a felony hate crime assault for allegedly using an anti-same-sex marriage “Yes on Prop. 8” lawn sign to attack a gay man wearing a “No on 8” button.

Prosecutor Janet Wilson says 23-year-old Joseph Storm and the 22-year-old victim got into a squabble early Oct. 26 on a Torrance street.

The prosecutor says it’s unclear if the dispute centered on the same-sex marriage ban, Proposition 8. Storm told investigators he was angry because the man had tossed the pro-proposition sign into the street and was littering.

Wilson says Storm allegedly used the “Yes on Prop. 8” lawn sign to knock down the victim, who was then punched and choked while Storm allegedly uttered a homosexual slur.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – It was only fitting that Milk, the film about gay politician Harvey Milk’s life and death, premiere last week in the Castro district.

Milk, San Francisco’s first openly gay leader who was slain 30 years ago, used to call himself “the Mayor of Castro Street,” referring to the main drag through the neighborhood he represented on the Board of Supervisors and the center of the city’s gay and lesbian community.

The world premiere of his biopic brought considerable star power to Milk’s beloved Castro Theatre, including director Gus Van Sant and stars Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, Emile Hirsch and Diego Luna. The film follows Milk’s rise to office and his and Mayor George Moscone’s assassination at City Hall by fellow Supervisor Dan White in 1978.

Van Sant said he had been talking about making this film for 18 years.

“He’s an American hero,” Van Sant said. “He’s a great example of a man representing his community and his city.”

Milk received another tribute earlier in the day on Oct. 28, when a historic streetcar featured in the film was dedicated to him. The supervisor had been a champion of public transportation.

The Tuesday night premiere also brought out many of Milk’s old friends who helped usher in the gay rights movement that has led, a generation later, to a fight over the right of same-sex couples to marry.

Gay rights activist Cleve Jones, played in the film by Emile Hirsch, said Milk would have been thrilled at the film but angry that the fight over civil rights continued. He pointed across the street, where hundreds were rallying against Proposition 8.

“Harvey would be angry,” Jones said, “and he’d still be fighting.”

BOSTON (AP) – The former medical director of a Massachusetts-based pharmaceutical company has been sentenced to probation after pleading guilty to promoting off-label use of computer devices in an effort to boost sales of an AIDS drug.

Dr. Norma Muurahainen, who worked at Serono Laboratories Inc. on Norwell, was sentenced on Oct. 30 in federal court in Boston to one year of probation and fined $150,000. She pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor accounts in July.

Prosecutors say the 56-year-old Muurahainen encouraged the use of portable devices to measure loss of body cell mass in AIDS patients without approval from the Food and Drug Administration.

Officials say she had the power to stop the program, but did not.

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) – Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson said he led a confidential retreat a few years ago for gay Roman Catholic priests.

Robinson, the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church and world Anglican Communion, said the Catholic priest group that organized the meeting had invited him to attend.

About 75 Catholic clergy from around the U.S. participated without notifying their bishops or provincial leaders, Robinson said. In 2005, the Vatican issued a document affirming the church’s stance that men with “deep-seated” attraction to other men should not be ordained.

The retreat was held outside of New England, but Robinson would not say where.

Robinson briefly discussed the retreat during a question-and-answer session after a viewing of a documentary featuring his life story called, For The Bible Tells Me So, according to The Laconia Daily Sun.

The film features Robinson’s parents and other Christian parents discussing their faith and having a child come out as gay or lesbian.

The documentary was shown at Gilford’s First United Methodist Church as part of the Open Doors Fellowship, which aims to make the church welcoming for gays and lesbians.

The film makes a link between sexism and anti-gay prejudice, contending that, “at its root, the hatred of gays is driven by a hatred and second-class status of women,” Robinson said.

Robinson said he made a similar point in the priests’ retreat.

“I had said to them, ‘It’s too dangerous for you to come out as gay to your superiors, but I believe that if you work for the ordination of women in your church, you will go a long way toward opening the door for the acceptance of gay priests,” Robinson said.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – Timothy “Casey” Richards of Nashville is blogging from prison.

Awaiting sentencing on child pornography charges, he writes out his blog updates, the G-rated ones for FreeCasey.com and the X-rated ones for Gay Boy in Jail on Blogspot.

Richards uses his phone calls from the federal prison in Leitchfield, Ky., to dictate the blogs to friends and supporters in Nashville and elsewhere. They post his words online or record them for Podcasts.

On both blogs, Richards complains about being targeted by the government for being gay, claiming he’s a scapegoat in a national investigation.

FreeCasey.com includes a running count of his incarceration – 1,135 days last week. Gay Boy in Jail includes graphic sexual fantasies and dreams.

WAXAHACHIE, Texas (AP) – Three members of a gay-rights group on a nationwide bus tour of faith-based universities were arrested Oct. 29 after going to a private campus that had banned them, officials said.

Three members of Soulforce were charged with trespassing after they tried to go to a chapel service at Southwestern Assemblies of God University, a 1,900-student Pentecostal school, according to the Waxahachie Police Department. Their bond was to be set at an arraignment the same day they were arrested.

The group earlier sent a letter to Southwestern Assemblies requesting a forum, but the president declined and asked Soulforce to stay off the campus, said university spokesperson Ryan McElhany.

“It’s not a question that’s up for debate for us,” McElhany said. “We love the people, but we do believe that homosexuality is a sin.”

The Southwestern Assemblies handbook lists homosexuality as an offense for which a student can be expelled, but if a current student is struggling with such feelings, he or she may be referred to counseling instead, McElhany said.

Soulforce has already held forums at nearly a dozen campuses since the Equality Ride tour began earlier this month to promote inclusion at schools it believes have policies that discriminate against gay students. Several Soulforce members have already been arrested for trespassing at three schools in other states.

“We never want to get arrested; our goal is to spread a message of hope and fairness and to talk to students and meet them where they are,” said Soulforce spokeswoman Caitlin MacIntyre. “Three men really wanted to attend the (Southwestern Assemblies of God University) chapel service, and we would have reached more people, but the university put up boundaries.”

She said more colleges welcome than reject the group. Dallas Baptist University has been the most receptive during this tour because last week’s forum was a daylong event in which Soulforce met with its administrators, faculty and students, MacIntyre said.

Before the Oct. 29 arrests, about 15 Southwestern Assemblies representatives – including administrators and student leaders – had a “low-key discussion” with the 15 or so Soulforce members, McElhany said. Afterward, the bus remained parked in a public area near campus and some students went there throughout the day to talk to group members, he said. The school also provided the group with drinks and snacks, he said.