COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) – A Colorado Springs-based evangelical group spent more than three times the amount spent by the Mormon church to support a California ballot initiative that outlawed same-sex marriage.

Data released last week by the California secretary of state’s office show Focus on the Family donated $657,000 in money and services to ProtectMarriage.com, a California coalition that supported Proposition 8.

A September report indicated Focus on the Family had contributed $448,406. Focus vice president of media relations Gary Schneeberger says the most recent figure includes the value of non-cash contributions such as mailing costs and time on radio programs.

The data also indicate Salt Lake City-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints donated $189,000 to support Proposition 8.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) – The group that helped get a same-sex marriage ban in the state constitution now wants to help those who can wed stay married.

The Florida Family Policy Council says it will work with churches and organizations that helped get the same-sex marriage ban on last year’s ballot to boost programs that help married couples stay together.

During a press conference Feb. 3 council president John Stemberger criticized Florida’s no-fault divorce law, which allows either party to end a marriage for any reason.

Stemberger did not make a formal proposal to change the policy but said churches will help engaged couples understand marriage and provide programs to strengthen existing marriages.

The goal is to reduce the Florida divorce rate by 10 percent.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) – Democratic Gov. Martin O’Malley wants to extend health care benefits to same-sex partners of state workers.

Under the proposal, state workers and retirees could add domestic partners and their dependents to health, dental and prescription drug plans.

Senate Budget and Taxation Committee Chairman Ulysses Currie, a Democrat, backs the idea but notes that it’s early in the budget process. Republican Sen. Allan H. Kittleman, the minority leader, questions whether the benefits extension is “appropriate,” given the state’s financial difficulties.

O’Malley extended benefits to same-sex partners of city employees when he was mayor of Baltimore, and he said he would do so statewide after he was elected governor.

BOSTON (AP) – A businessman pledged $100 million Feb. 4 to Massachusetts General Hospital to create an institute that will search for vaccines for AIDS and other infectious diseases.

The gift from Phillip Ragon will help create an institute whose first task will be finding an effective vaccine against AIDS.

The Phillip T. and Susan M. Ragon Institute eventually will bring scientists, clinicians and engineers together from the hospital, Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to fight a wide range of infectious diseases and cancers.

“Recent scientific advances have brought us closer to the elusive goal of an AIDS vaccine,” said Bruce Walker, a physician-investigator at Massachusetts General who will be the institute’s director. “But reaching that goal will require broad collaboration.”

The hospital will get $10 million in each of the next 10 years. According to hospital officials, the $100 million pledge is the largest donation in the hospital’s history.

The 59-year-old Ragon is the founder and sole owner of InterSystems Corp., a Cambridge company that provides database software to hospitals and other industries.

BOSTON (AP) – The lesbian couple who led the fight for same-sex marriage in Massachusetts are filing for divorce.

Julie and Hillary Goodridge were among seven same-sex couples whose lawsuit, Goodridge vs. Department of Public Health, thrust Massachusetts into the center of a nationwide debate on same-sex marriage. The couple became the public face of the debate in the state, the first to legalize same-sex marriages.

The couple was married on May 17, 2004, the first day same-sex marriages became legal under a court ruling. Their daughter served as ring-bearer.

The divorce filing is not unexpected. The couple announced they were separating in 2006.

A clerk for the Suffolk Probate and Family Court said the case, filed last week, is impounded.

Messages left for the Goodridges were not immediately returned Feb. 3.

BELLEVUE, Neb. (AP) – Bellevue East High School has decided to recognize a student group that fosters understanding of homosexuality.

The decision comes after nearly two years of negotiations between school officials and ACLU Nebraska, acting on behalf of the Gay Straight Alliance.

A message left Feb. 5 for principal Brad Stueve was not immediately returned.

A news release from ACLU Nebraska says the school will treat the group as it does other student organizations, which means its announcements will be included on the school’s message board and a photo of the group will appear in the yearbook.

Amy Miller of ACLU Nebraska says students contacted the ACLU after being told by administrators that forming such a club was too controversial.

BAY SHORE, N.Y. (AP) – The New York state human rights commissioner will appear Friday at a Long Island gay and lesbian youth center where vandalism occurred.

Commissioner Galen D. Kirkland will meet with representatives of the center in Bay Shore to discuss ways to counter violence.

Chief Executive Officer David Kilmnick says the damage included a broken door, smashed van windows and slashed tires.

The damage, which was discovered Feb. 2, is being investigated as a hate crime by Suffolk County police.

Gov. David Paterson has issued a statement condemning “acts of hatred and violence.” He says law enforcers are working hard “to bring the perpetrators to justice.”

The hamlet of Bay Shore is 43 miles east of New York City.

NEW YORK (AP) – New York City’s only remaining gay and lesbian bookstore says it’s closing after 41 years.

Oscar Wilde Bookshop owner Kim Brinster says “tough times” are the reason for the Manhattan store’s closing on March 29. She says the city once supported three gay and lesbian bookstores.

In an e-mail message Feb. 3, Brinster thanked customers for being part of “a great global community.”

She says the Greenwich Village shop was a worldwide destination, with foreign tourists accounting for about two-thirds of its customers.

But she says business has been hurt by the decline in the euro’s value and by large chain bookstores and the Internet.

The Oscar Wilde Bookshop bills itself as the world’s oldest gay and lesbian bookstore. It’s named after the gay Irish author.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – Advocates for gays and lesbians say North Dakota law should prevent discrimination because of someone’s sexual orientation.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is looking over a bill aimed at doing that. It will get a vote in the full Senate later.

Gina Powers lives in Fargo with her partner, Steph Rindy. She says they were once kicked out of their Fargo apartment because they are lesbians. She says North Dakota law should protect against such incidents.

Tom Freier is the director of the North Dakota Family Alliance. He says the bill is unnecessary, and would give special protection to gays and lesbians.

Freier says the change would cause problems for people who believe homosexuality is morally wrong.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Some 2,600 Oregon same-sex couples, about one in five, have registered as domestic partners since the civil unions became legal a year ago. An analysis by The Oregonian shows that nearly half of the registered couples live in Multnomah County and 70 percent are women.

After voters banned same-sex marriage in 2004, gay rights activists got a domestic partnership law, which gives same-sex couples most of the state protections and benefits of marriage. Most of Oregon’s 12,700 gay and lesbian couples have yet to register, often because it falls short of their ultimate goal, which is marriage.

Oregon’s same-sex couples do not get the tax, Social Security and other federal benefits that married couples receive.

WASHINGTON (AP) – A division of Johnson & Johnson has asked federal regulators to grant full approval to an HIV drug designed to treat patients who have stopped responding to other treatments.

The Food and Drug Administration gave Intelence preliminary approval in January under its accelerated approval program, which allowed J&J to market the drug. In order to gain full approval, FDA required the company to submit follow-up data on the drug’s effectiveness.

Data submitted by J&J’s Tibotec unit showed that 60 percent of patients taking the drug for four months had undetectable levels of HIV in their blood compared with 39 percent of patients taking a placebo.

Intelence is a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor, or NNRTI, that blocks the enzyme HIV needs to multiply.

Tibotec Therapeutics is a division of Ortho Biotech Products, L.P., a Johnson & Johnson company based in Bridgewater, N.J.

Shares of Johnson & Johnson rose 15 cents to $58.11.