MOULTON, Ala. (AP) – Lawrence County Schools officials have agreed to stop offering single-sex classes next year after the American Civil Liberties Union became involved.

The organization believes sex-segregated classes are illegal and discriminatory and has threatened other systems with litigation to stop the practice.

The Lawrence County school district agreed to end the single-sex education program at East Lawrence Middle School under a settlement agreement.

All courses will be integrated in every school starting this fall, and no school will institute any sex-segregated programs for the next three years.

The system also agreed not to start any sex-segregated program from fall 2012 through spring 2015 without notifying the ACLU.

Single-sex classes were stopped in Mobile and St. Clair county schools after officials were contacted by the ACLU.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – The Anchorage Assembly chamber was packed for another round of public testimony on a gay rights proposal.

Assemblymember Matt Claman got three votes July 7 to set a public hearing on a proposed ordinance that would ask voters to add sexual orientation to the list of characteristics protected under the charter’s bill of rights. It will need support from eight of the 11 Assembly members to reach the ballot.

The Anchorage Daily News reports this is a separate effort from the proposed ordinances that have been getting public comment for weeks.

The original measure would prohibit discrimination against lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people in housing, employment, public accommodations, financing and education.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – A federal appeals court has rejected a lawsuit accusing Abbott Laboratories of antitrust violations over a sudden 400-percent price hike of a popular AIDS drug.

Advocacy groups and drug benefit providers sued Abbott in 2004. They alleged the North Chicago, Ill., drugmaker raised the price of the HIV-fighting Norvir to stifle competition and boost sales of its own alternative, Kaletra.

The company paid $10 million to settle the lawsuit and agreed to let the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals still determine if the price hike was an illegal business practice.

The court ruled in Abbott’s favor July 7. If it had lost, Abbott would have had to pay an additional $17.5 million.

A lawyer for the advocacy groups says they’re weighing whether to appeal the decision.

VENTURA, Calif. (AP) – Prosecutors say they have offered a plea deal to a 15-year-old boy charged with fatally shooting a gay student in an Oxnard classroom.

The Ventura County district attorney’s office says Brandon McInerney can plead guilty to first-degree murder and receive a lighter sentence.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Maeve Fox says the boy, who is being tried as an adult, would receive a maximum of 25 years to life in prison instead of 53 years to life. Fox says the deal was offered because of McInerney’s young age.

Prosecutors made their offer public after a court hearing Wednesday, when defense attorney Robyn Bramson accused them of being vindictive.

The judge reset the preliminary hearing to July 20 when Bramson said she needed more time to prepare.

BANGOR, Maine (AP) – It’s been 25 years since Charlie Howard was chased down in Bangor, beaten, kicked and tossed into a stream because he was gay.

The 23-year-old Howard drowned on July 7, 1984, a murder that made national headlines and led to an anti-discrimination ordinance in Bangor and a state hate crimes law. This year, the governor signed a bill allowing same-sex couples to marry in Maine.

Howard, a New Hampshire native, is being remembered this week in religious services, concerts, workshops and the dedication of a memorial near where he drowned, the Bangor Daily News reported.

Three teens who attacked Howard were charged with murder, but eventually plead guilty to manslaughter and were sentenced to the Maine Youth Center for an indeterminate stay not to exceed their 21st birthdays.

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) – Same-sex marriage foes in Maine say they’ve collected enough signatures to stop a new law from going into effect and to force a statewide vote.

Mark Mutty from the Stand for Marriage Maine coalition said July 8 it took four weeks to gather the more than 55,000 signatures necessary to put same-sex marriage to a vote.

The law allowing same-sex marriage was scheduled to take effect Sept. 12 but will be put on hold after the signatures are submitted and certified.

Six states allow same-sex marriage. Maine became the fifth to allow same-sex marriage in May, and New Hampshire followed suit.

BOSTON (AP) – State Sen. Stanley Rosenberg says he’s gay.

The Amherst Democrat wrote a column in the Daily Hampshire Gazette about liberty over the July Fourth weekend describing himself as “a foster child who grew up as a ward of the state, as a gay man, as a Jew.’’

He declined further comment when contacted by The Republican of Springfield.

The 59-year-old Rosenberg served in the House from 1987 to 1991, before moving to the Senate. He serves as president pro tempore and is point man on gambling issues for Senate President Therese Murray.

Massachusetts became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage in 2004. Rosenberg was among those who opposed a proposed 2008 constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

There are at least six gay members of the Legislature.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) – The mother of an 11-year-old Springfield boy who committed suicide because he was allegedly bullied at school is scheduled to testify before Congress.

Sirdeaner Walker is scheduled to talk about school safety on July 8 before the U.S. House of Representatives subcommittees on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education and Healthy Families and Communities.

Walker’s son, Carl Walker-Hoover, hung himself in the family home in April.

His mother said her son had complained that classmates at New Leadership Charter School had called him gay, made fun of how he dressed, and threatened him.

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) – Nevada will start offering insurance coverage to domestic partners of state and some other government employees in July 2010 – nine months after the Oct. 1 effective date of a new state law granting such benefits.

Officials with the Public Employees Benefits Board voted unanimously to delay extending the benefits, saying more time is needed to set rates and coverage plans that include domestic partners and their children.

The domestic partner bill extends rights similar to those held by married couples – including community property and debt and the right to seek financial support after a breakup – to cohabiting couples, whether gay or straight, who register with the secretary of state’s office.

DALLAS (AP) – Activists are crying foul over the raid of a Dallas-area gay bar less than a month after the raid of another club ended with one man in the hospital.

Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission officials entered the Dallas Eagle club around midnight on June 17. The raid came a few weeks after the raid of a Fort Worth club where witnesses claimed authorities were overly aggressive.

A guard at the Eagle says TABC officials were questioning whether the address on the liquor license was changed after the club reopened just yards from its previous location.

Gay activist Rick Vanderslice says he is “outraged” and wants to know what is prompting the raids.

TABC officials didn’t return phone calls seeking comment.

Gay rights advocates in El Paso want the city to revamp its police force’s training for dealing with the GLBT community.

The request made during Tuesday’s City Council meeting comes about a week after five gay men were asked to leave a popular taco shop after two of them kissed.

The group called local police and left the shop after a police officer told them they could be arrested for engaging in homosexual behavior. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the state ban on such behavior in 2003 in the case of Lawrence vs. Texas.

None of the five were arrested and no injuries were reported in the incident.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – Two Utah women have embarked on a cross-country walk to raise awareness of homeless youth who are gay, lesbian or transgender.

Chloe Noble and Jill Hardman began their journey in May from Seattle. Bound for Washington, D.C., the pair are making stops in various cities to speak at community centers and rallies about the struggles of homeless youth, including finding safe sleeping spots, police harassment, sexual predators and exposure to drugs and alcohol. The 3,000-plus mile trip is expected to take six months.

Noble, Hardman and Nicole Tomlin are currently walking between Portland and San Francisco.

Noble says they are scheduled to arrive in Salt Lake City on July 20. A chronicle of the Homeless Youth Pride Walk can be found at www.pridewalk2009.org.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – A gay couple say they were detained by security guards on a plaza owned by the Mormon church and later cited by police, claiming the incident stemmed from a kiss on the cheek.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said that the men became argumentative and refused to leave after being asked to stop their “inappropriate behavior.’’ The men say they were targeted because they are gay.

The church has been the target of protests over its support of a ban on same-sex marriage in California.

Matt Aune said he and his partner, Derek Jones, were walking home from a concert nearby on Thursday night, cutting through the plaza near the Salt Lake City Mormon temple.

Aune, 28, said he gave Jones, 25, a hug and kiss and that the two were then approached by a security guard, who asked them to leave, telling them they were being inappropriate and that public displays of affection aren’t allowed on the property. He said other guards arrived and the men were handcuffed.

“We asked what we were doing wrong,’’ Aune told The Associated Press.

Church spokesperson Kim Farah said in a statement Friday that the men were “politely asked to stop engaging in inappropriate behavior – just as any other couple would have been.’’

“They became argumentative and used profanity and refused to leave the property,’’ she said. The church did not immediately respond to a request for more comment.

Police later arrived, and both men were cited with misdemeanor trespassing, Salt Lake City Police Sgt. Robin Snyder said.

“It doesn’t matter what they were asked to leave for,’’ Snyder said. “If they are asked to leave and don’t, they are … trespassing.’’

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) – A group of six bishops from the Episcopal church plan to push for greater recognition of same-sex marriages at a national gathering of church officials in California.

The Right Rev. Thomas C. Ely, the bishop of the Episcopal Church in Vermont, says the group from states recognizing same-sex marriage will offer a resolution urging the church to allow them to extend a key marriage ritual to gay and lesbian couples.

Ely said the bishops want to adapt a marriage prayer book to include same-sex married couples, The Barre-Montpelier Times Argus reported. It will be introduced at the church’s General Convention in Anahem. The event’s held every three years.

Besides Vermont, states that have legalized same-sex marriage are Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Iowa and Connecticut.

WASHINGTON. D.C. (AP) – A law recognizing same-sex marriages performed elsewhere has gone into effect in the District of Columbia.

The bill was approved in a 12-1 vote by the D.C. Council in May, with councilmember Marion Barry casting the lone no vote.

Congress, which has the final say over the city’s laws, had 30 days to review the bill. A push by black church leaders who oppose same-sex marriage failed to get a referendum on the matter.

And Congress took no action, allowing the bill to become law July 7.

Councilmember David Catania has said that recognizing same-sex marriages performed elsewhere is a first step toward performing same-sex weddings in the city.

Six states – Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire – allow same-sex marriage.

WASHINGTON (AP) – A group of AIDS activists was arrested Thursday for unlawfully demonstrating in the Capitol rotunda, a Capitol Police spokesperson said.

Sgt. Kimberly Schneider said 11 men and 15 women each face a charge of unlawful assembly, disorderly conduct and loud and boisterous behavior. Their names and ages were not immediately released.

Schneider said the group entered the rotunda, located beneath the Capitol dome, and linked themselves together with a white chain at about 10 a.m. The area is usually crowded with tourists, but police restricted the traffic while they made arrests.

The activists carried signs in support of funding for needle exchange, HIV/AIDS housing and programs aimed at fighting AIDS. They chanted, “Fight global AIDS now,’’ and, “Clean needles save lives.’’ They marched in a circle before lying down on the floor.

Police bound the activists’ hands together and dragged some of the demonstrators to their feet as they arrested them.

The arrests came one day before President Barack Obama is to arrive in Ghana, where 320,000 people are HIV positive, according to the United Nations’ AIDS fighting agency, UNAIDS.

The activists were part of a coalition of five AIDS groups from Washington, Philadelphia and New York. They included ACT UP Philadelphia, DC Fights Back, Health GAP, New York City AIDS Network and Housing Works.

Omolola Adele-Oso of DC Fights Back questioned why lawmakers were bailing out financial institutions instead of devoting more dollars to AIDS programs.

“HIV is not in a recession,’’ Adele-Oso said in a written statement from the coalition about the demonstration.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senate majority leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) today announced support for a legislative moratorium on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” that would prevent further discharges of gay service members for 18 months.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) is considering the introduction of an amendment to that effect for the fiscal year 2010 defense authorization bill, according to her office.

The defense bill is being debated this week on the Senate floor.

Reid declared his support for the amendment when asked about it by the Blade at a news conference Tuesday.

“If Kirsten offers this amendment, I will support it,” Reid said.

He continued: “I would support that. My only difference I would have is I would make it permanent.”