LOS ANGELES (AP) – Two Episcopal priests in same-gender relationships are among the nominees for assistant bishop of Los Angeles, officials said Sunday.

The Rev. John L. Kirkley of San Francisco and the Rev. Mary Douglas Glasspool of Maryland will be among six candidates on the ballot when lay people and clergy vote in December, despite a long-standing request from world Anglican leaders for a moratorium on consecrating openly gay bishops.

Los Angeles Bishop Jon Bruno said in a statement Sunday that he was “pleased by the wide diversity” of the nominees. Separately, the Diocese of Minnesota on Saturday announced that a lesbian was among its three candidates for bishop. That election is set for Oct. 31.

The Episcopal Church is the Anglican body in the United States.

The nominations were announced just over two weeks after the Episcopal General Convention voted to effectively drop a pledge that it would act with “restraint” when considering any more openly gay candidates for bishop.

“What happened really is we gave the green light for dioceses to do the right thing,” said the Rev. Susan Russell, president of Integrity USA, an Episcopal gay advocacy group.

Episcopalians caused an uproar in 2003 by consecrating the first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire. Anglican leaders responded by asking the U.S. denomination for a temporary ban on consecrating any more gay bishops while they tried to reach a compromise that could keep the 77 million-member Anglican Communion unified.

No other bishop living openly with a same-sex partner has been consecrated since then.

Each Episcopal diocese elects local bishops. Church leaders must then signal their approval before the winner can be consecrated.

LOS ANGELES (AP) – A coroner’s official says heart disease, complicated by high blood pressure and a hardening of the arteries, is what killed author E. Lynn Harris last week.

County coroner Craig Harvey said Wednesday that the 54-year-old died of natural causes. Harris died July 23 while visiting Los Angeles to promote his latest book.

Harris lived in Atlanta and was considered a pioneer of gay black fiction, enjoying unprecedented success in the genre. He wrote 11 novels, and 10 of them became New York Times best-sellers.

Harris was born in Flint, Mich., and raised in Little Rock, Ark. He attended the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville where he was the school’s first black yearbook editor and the first black male Razorbacks cheerleader.

CHICAGO (AP) – Chicago’s Commission on Human Relations honored gay military veterans at an event in downtown Chicago on Aug. 5.

“With Liberty and Justice for All” was held at Richard J. Daley Plaza.

Organizers say the event is the country’s only municipally sponsored military salute to gay veterans.

U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley is slated as a featured speaker. He has co-sponsored a bill that would repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the U.S. military’s ban on openly gay servicemembers.

The keynote speaker is a member of the Chief of Naval Operations Executive Panel and the U.S. Navy Diversity Senior Advisory Group.

Luke Visconti was on active duty as a naval aviator and commissioned officer with the Navy from 1982 to 1990, and in the reserves until 1992.

WHITEHOUSE STATION, N.J. (AP) – Merck & Co.’s head of vaccines, Margaret G. McGlynn, is retiring effective Nov. 1, the drugmaker said Monday.

McGlynn, 49, has been president of Merck’s vaccines division since 2005 and, more recently, Merck Vaccines and Infectious Diseases. Previously, she served as head of U.S. Human Health, the company’s marketing operation.

“She decided that now was a good time to pursue many personal and professional aspirations,” Merck spokesperson Amy Rose said.

Rose said no replacement has been named yet for McGlynn, who joined the company 26 years ago.

McGlynn helped oversee a surge in new vaccine approvals the last few years that made the division increasingly important financially to Merck. Those included the blockbuster Gardasil, the first vaccine to prevent cervical and other sexually transmitted cancers, and RotaTeq for rotavirus. Merck’s HIV drug Isentress also was approved during her tenure.

However, the division has been plagued by manufacturing deficiencies cited by the Food and Drug Administration, some dating back to spring 2007, that have reduced sales significantly.

Vaccines against Haemophilus influenza type B, shingles and a combination one against measles, mumps, rubella and chickenpox called ProQuad either were recalled or production was halted for long stretches. Zostavax, the shingles vaccine, just resumed normal shipments in June, and ProQuad is still not available, although Merck settles other vaccines that separately protect against the four childhood illnesses, Merck noted in a regulatory filing Monday.

Until November, McGlynn will continue to lead the business and keep her other leadership positions, the company said. That includes helping plan for Merck’s $41.1 billion acquisition of partner drugmaker Schering-Plough Corp. of Kenilworth, N.J.

NEW YORK (AP) – New York City Councilmember Bill de Blasio wants to create a division in the health department to deal with issues confronting gay, lesbian and transgender youths.

De Blasio says one-third of the city’s homeless youths are gay, lesbian or transgender. He says many of them are “falling through the cracks of our social services net.”

City health officials say the HIV infection rate among 13- to 19-year-old males who have sex with other males doubled between 2001 and 2006.

The division would address suicide, depression, violence and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases among gay, lesbian and transgender people up to age 24.

De Blasio has proposed legislation to create the division.

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) – Fort Worth’s new diversity task force has held its first meeting, a month after a gay bar raid left one man seriously injured.

The city manager created the task force to advise him on issues affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents. The committee members include city staff and community leaders and will meet once a month.

They will provide city employees with customer service training and promote better communication between the city and gay residents. They’ll also increase community awareness of the city’s anti-discrimination ordinance.

Separate investigations by Fort Worth police and the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, which participated jointly in the late June raid on the Rainbow Lounge, are not yet complete.

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) _ A Web site for U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison contained hidden phrases including “rick perry gay.”

So Gov. Rick Perry’s campaign is accusing the Hutchison team of being slanderous and of setting a negative and divisive tone.

The two Republicans are running for governor in next year’s GOP primary.

The Austin American-Statesman reported July 30 on the phrases.

Hutchison spokesperson Jeff Sadosky said Hutchison’s campaign was not condoning those words and did not know thousands of people would be searching for them. He said they would be removed from the site.

Campaign officials said they bought a tool that generates the phrases to find out the most frequent Web searches using the two gubernatorial candidates’ names.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – The Salt Lake City prosecutor’s office says it will not pursue charges against two men who were cited for trespassing on a Mormon church-owned downtown plaza earlier this month after sharing a kiss.

Prosecutor Sim Gill says in a statement there is reason to believe that although the property is private, Matt Aune and his partner, Derek Jones, did not think they could legally be ejected from the plaza because it is perceived to be open to the public.