MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A state legislator has proposed a constitutional amendment designed to prevent courts from making gay marriages legal in Alabama.

The proposal by Rep. Gerald Allen (R-Tuscaloosa) defines marriage as “a unique relationship between a man and a woman” and restricts courts from hearing any question pertaining to the interpretation of the definition of marriage.

Allen said he is proposing the amendment because of a Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling, mandating that the Legislature in that state approve a system for marriages between gay couples.

“If we go in that direction it will absolutely be harmful to marriage and the family unit as we know it,” Allen said. He said he has prefiled his bill in the Legislature.

Gov. Bob Riley’s spokesperson, John Matson, said the governor has not seen Allen’s proposed legislation and can’t comment on it. But Matson said Riley disagrees with the Massachusetts court ruling.

“He believes marriage should be a traditional union between a man and a woman,” Matson said.

If it passes the Legislature, the amendment would have to be approved by Alabama voters.

DENVER, Colo. (AP) — Two Democratic state lawmakers plan to introduce bills to let same-sex couples get “civil union” certificates and adopt children with legal parental rights going to both.

Reps. Tom Plant of Nederland and Alice Madden of Boulder said they would introduce the legislation in the 2004 session.

Rep. Kevin Lundberg (R-Berthoud) said the bills probably won’t get far.

“It does seem a little improbable they would be expecting full success with their measures,” Lundberg said.

Similar bills have died in previous sessions.

Lundberg plans to introduce a resolution supporting a U.S. constitutional amendment outlawing same-sex marriages. U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave (R-Colo.) is the chief sponsor of the amendment.

ATLANTA, Ga. (AP) — The U.S. syphilis rate has climbed for the second year in a row, mostly because of an increase in cases among gay and bisexual men, the government said.

Between 2001 and 2002, the syphilis rate rose 9.1 percent, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. The rate had dropped every year between 1990 and 2000 before reversing course.

The actual increase in cases was small — 759 more people, for a total of 6,862 new cases — but the rise among gay and bisexual men has caused concern that the public health safeguards and safe-sex practices adopted over the last two decades during the AIDS epidemic continue to crumble.

“The vast majority of the United States is not seeing any syphilis at all,” said Dr. John Douglas, director of the CDC’s division of sexually transmitted diseases. “We’re seeing syphilis rise primarily in groups of gay and bisexual men.”

Syphilis cases in the West soared 64.3 percent (1.4 cases per 100,000 to 2.3) between 2001 and 2002 and climbed 54.5 percent in the Northeast (1.1 cases per 100,000 to 1.7 per 100,000), a rise caused in part by outbreaks in these regions’ major cities — San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York and Miami.

HONOLULU, Hi. (AP) — A Massachusetts court decision granting same-sex couples the right to marry was greeted with mixed reaction in Hawaii, seen as a pioneer in gay rights.

Courts in other states have issued similar rulings, but some legal experts said this one goes further and appears to suggest that gay couples should be offered nothing less than marriage itself — and not a lesser alternative such as civil unions, which are available in Vermont.

The Hawaii Supreme Court rejected the claim gay couples are entitled to receive marriage licenses in 1999, but left untouched its 1993 ruling that gay couples are entitled to the same rights and benefits as opposite-sex couples.

News of the ruling nearly 5,000 miles away drew cheers from gay rights advocates but an angry rebuke from at least one politician.

“This is a great day in the history of our country,” said Carolyn Martinez Golojuch, president of gay rights group PFLAG-Oahu. “Now is the time for the rest of our country to come in line with justice, liberty and equality by following the fine example set by Massachusetts.”

Vanessa Chong, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii, said Hawaii’s high court ruling a decade ago paved the way for the decision.

“The U.S. Constitution requires full equality and today’s decision brings the important civil right in marriage in line with the Constitution.”

But while the ruling was met by popping champagne corks in Massachusetts and hope among gay rights advocates that Hawaii will follow, not everyone was happy.

Honolulu City Councilmember Mike Gabbard, founder of the Alliance for Traditional Marriage and Values, said, “homosexual extremists will simply not stop trying to shove same-sex marriage down our throats.”

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. (AP) — John Callaghan was so disgusted by the cover of a national gay and lesbian newsmagazine at a library that featured two men about to kiss, he said he ripped it off and took it home with him.

Now he could face criminal charges.

Callaghan, 77, said he got mad when he saw the cover of The Advocate featuring two bare-chested men leaning in to kiss each other.

“I thought of my grandchildren, and I thought of impressionable teenagers, so I took the cover off,” Callaghan said.

Callaghan said he was offended the magazine was available to young people and that his tax dollars were spent to put it there. “They don’t put Playboy in the library because it’s considered immoral and indecent,” he said.

John Moorman, director of the Williamsburg Regional Library, said the library had subscribed to the magazine since 2001 and this was the first time anyone had desecrated it or complained about it. He said the magazine was added to the collection at the request of people in the community.

“We represent all the taxpayers,” Moorman said. “We are a community organization, and we serve the whole community.”

The magazine appeared on a rack also featuring sexually suggestive pop singer Britney Spears on the cover of Cosmopolitan and a scantily clad pop singer Jessica Simpson on the cover of Rolling Stone.

Under Virginia law, willfully destroying or damaging a magazine in a library is a Class 1 misdemeanor, punishable by up to 12 months in jail and up to $2,500 in fines.

Callaghan said he didn’t know he broke the law. He said he still has the offensive cover he ripped off. The library learned of the incident after Callaghan approached a local newspaper to complain about the cover, but he said, “They don’t have witnesses that I did this.”

BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — Vermont’s civil unions law is being used more by female couples than by males, statistics show.

From July 1, 2000, the first day that licenses were granted to same-sex couples, through Jan. 4, 2002, 3,471 licenses for civil unions were issued. Of those, 1,180 were given to male couples and 2,291 were to female couples, said Bill Apao, director of public health statistics at the Vermont Department of Health.

That means about two-thirds of the unions — which confer many of the rights and benefits of marriage to same-sex couples — were between women.

Esther Rothblum, a psychology professor at the University of Vermont and editor of the national Journal of Lesbian Studies, is conducting a survey of all couples who received civil unions in the first year of the law.

One reason more women may opt for a legal certification of their union, she said, is that more lesbian couples have children.

“The relationship with the children is more important,” Rothblum said. “I think more women have children and that might explain some of the gender differences.”

The gender ratio in broken civil unions is roughly the same. Of four dissolutions reported in Vermont, three involved female couples.

Hartland Town Clerk Clyde Jenne, a gay, single man who has issued 26 civil union licenses since the law went into effect, has his own observations on why so many more females seem to join in unions.

“(In) this male-dominated society we have, (men) don’t want to make that commitment for what the other guys will say. There have been women living together since God knows when, because they are not a threat to the system,” Jenne said.