VENTURA, Calif. (AP) – The 15-year-old boy charged with the Oxnard classroom gunshot death of a gay student has been given court permission to attend his father’s funeral.

Ventura County Superior Court Judge James Cloninger ruled Monday that Brandon McInerney can temporarily leave juvenile hall for the funeral. The date for the private family service hasn’t been disclosed.

William “Billy” McInerney was found dead in his home on March 18. The coroner says he died of blunt-force head trauma and the death was accidental.

Brandon McInerney is being prosecuted as an adult for murder and a hate crime for the February 2008 shooting death of 15-year-old Larry King at E.O. Green School. The teen plead not guilty.

A preliminary hearing date will be set this week.

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) – An advocacy group that was a major player in Connecticut’s same-sex marriage debate has decided to close its doors at the end of 2009.

Leaders of Love Makes a Family say the 10-year-old group wants to conclude its work on a victorious note in the wake of last fall’s state Supreme Court decision legalizing same-sex marriage.

The Hartford-based group was formed in 1999 to lobby for legislation letting same-sex couples legally adopt in Connecticut. It later grew into a statewide coalition of people and organizations supporting same-sex marriage.

Only Connecticut, Massachusetts, Iowa and Vermont have legalized same-sex marriage.

New Jersey, California, New Hampshire, Oregon, Washington and the District of Columbia have laws to either recognize same-sex civil unions or domestic partnerships.

ATLANTA (AP) – The first openly gay Episcopal bishop will speak at Emory University about civil rights, marriage and religion.

New Hampshire Episcopal Bishop V. Gene Robinson spoke Monday about the divide in the church caused by his election as bishop in 2003.

He says he no longer rejects his identity as “the gay bishop” and is taking a lead in the fight over same-sex marriage.

Robinson delivered a prayer at the Lincoln Memorial for one of the first inauguration events for President Barack Obama.

Robinson advocates that the church simply bless a marriage and not be involved in its legalization.

His talk at Emory will conclude the Center for the Study of Law and Religion’s 2008-2009 “When Law and Religion Meet” lecture series.

CHICAGO (AP) – The sponsor of a civil-unions bill in Illinois says he’s “delighted” by the Iowa Supreme Court’s decision to legalize same-sex unions there.

State Rep. Greg Harris says the Iowa decision shows the “the values of basic fairness are spreading from state to state.”

Iowa is the third state to allow same-sex couples to legally marry. Illinois state law restricts marriage to one man and one woman.

Harris is a Chicago Democrat who is openly gay. He said his colleagues in the Legislature advised him that while most people in Illinois support equal rights, they likely wouldn’t back offering the “m-word” – marriage – to same-sex couples.

The state civil-unions bill has passed out of a committee and now faces a vote on the House floor.

CHICAGO (AP) – A Chicago police officer has been targeted by seven lawsuits alleging he made false driving under the influence arrests, used excessive force and harassed gays and lesbians.

Four people on April 2 filed their lawsuits against Richard Fiorito in U.S. District Court in Chicago. Three other people filed lawsuits in February.

Fiorito is accused by all the plaintiffs of violating their civil rights by falsifying DUI charges and other traffic violations against them.

In some of the lawsuits, the plaintiffs have also said excessive force was used against them.

Fiorito could not be reached for comment. Chicago Law Department spokesperson Jennifer Hoyle says the city is reviewing the cases and could not comment on the allegations.

Last year, Mothers Against Drunk Driving honored Fiorito for making 313 DUI arrests between Jan. 1, 2007, and June 6, 2008.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – A leadership board of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has rejected a proposal to require a two-thirds vote on the question of allowing gay pastors.

The Church Council is essentially the board of directors of the nation’s largest Lutheran denomination. It voted 21-10 with two abstentions over the weekend to put the issue of gay clergy to a simple majority vote at the Churchwide Assembly Aug. 17-23 in Minneapolis.

The recommendation would permit gay clergy in the church, but leave it up to individual synods and congregations whether to appoint gay pastors.

The matter is far from settled. The issue can be revived for a vote by the full assembly on the first day of the convention. That’s expected by people on both sides.

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) – Online dating service eHarmony has launched a new Web site catering to same-sex singles.

The first 10,000 people who register for Compatible Partners will receive a free six-month membership. After that, membership pricing will be comparable to eHarmony.

The creation of Compatible Partners is the result of a complaint a New Jersey man filed against the online matchmaker in 2005 because it didn’t allow gays and lesbians to participate. The site started accepting subscriptions on Tuesday.

Like eHarmony, Compatible Partners says it’s geared for singles seeking meaningful long-term relationships. It also custom delivers matches to each user based on responses to a questionnaire.

NEW YORK (AP) – Playboy magazine’s former fashion director claims he was fired because of his sexual orientation and his age.

Joseph DeAcetis filed a lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court saying his supervisor, the magazine’s editorial director, “made fun” of him because he was gay and his hair was gray.

The lawsuit says that the editorial director referred to DeAcetis and other homosexuals as “girls.” He also claims that the editorial director complained that “gray hair was visible” when DeAcetis made a television appearance.

He says his duties were gradually given to a younger, straight male assistant and a straight female fashion editor.

Playboy Enterprises spokesperson Elizabeth Austin says the company “takes these allegations very seriously” and has been conducting an internal investigation.

NEW YORK (AP) – A lawyer and a broadcast journalist have been named to the New York City Commission on Human Rights.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced the appointments of William Hibsher and Renee Lobo on Friday.

Hibsher is a litigation partner at Bryan Cave, LLP. He previously headed the civil-rights unit of the U.S. attorney’s office in Manhattan.

He also has served on the board of Lambda Legal, which pursues civil-rights issues related to lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender people and those with HIV.

Renee Lobo has been a journalist at International Television for nearly 15 years, serving the South Asian community. She also serves on the Queens district attorney’s Asian Advisory Council and the Center for Women of New York.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – Mormon church President Thomas S. Monson says Latter-day Saints should not be discouraged by those who may malign or ridicule the church as it seeks to uphold its moral values in a changing world.

His remarks on the second day of the annual spring conference are a tacit reminder of the negative backlash The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has felt since last fall when it worked with a coalition of groups to successfully ban same-sex marriage in California.

Many same-sex marriage advocates turned their anger toward the Mormon church, picketing outside church temples nationwide. In Utah, a church meeting house was vandalized and envelopes filled with white powder were sent anonymously to church headquarters.