LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) – New eligibility requirements and decreases in funding are forcing the Arkansas AIDS Foundation to discontinue services to more than 150 clients.

The Little Rock-based foundation currently helps more than 500 clients with insurance premiums, medication co-pays, transportation and other costs.

The foundation said Friday it will have to cut services to 153 clients because the state Health Department has reduced the eligibility threshold by more than half.

With dwindling federal funds, the Health Department lowered the threshold from 500 percent of the federal poverty level, or an annual household income of $52,200, to a 200 percent level, or $21,600 annual household income.

LOS ANGELES (AP) – The Los Angeles Police Department wants to stop working with the organization that runs its Explorer program for youths because the group is linked to Boy Scouts of America, which bans gays from becoming members.

The organization, Learning for Life, was spun off from Boy Scouts of America.

A department official told the Police Commission Tuesday that the Boy Scouts policy is “inconsistent” with the city’s policy of non-discrimination. He suggested that the department manages the Explorer program itself.

Learning for Life officials say the organization does not discriminate and does not take funds from the Boy Scouts.

DENVER (AP) – Gay-rights activists in Denver are putting on what they call the nation’s first gay town hall meeting with Rep. Jared Polis.

The town hall-style meeting on Saturday is an open forum on issues relating to gays, lesbians and the transgendered. Polis, a Democrat from Boulder, is the first openly gay man elected to Congress as a non-incumbent.

Organizers say the meeting will touch on a recent defense spending bill approved by the House that would include sexual identity in the federal hate crimes law.

Also up for discussion are the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” ban on gay service members and efforts to reduce employment discrimination.

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) – Same-sex marriage opponents have raised $2.5 million in their campaign to persuade voters to repeal Maine’s law that was passed last spring, according to finance reports filed with the state Friday.

Reports show that the National Organization for Marriage was by far the biggest contributor to Stand for Marriage Maine’s political action committee, with $1.1 million during the latest reporting period. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland gave another $152,600.

Throughout the campaign, the Princeton, N.J.-based NOM has donated a total of $1.5 million while the diocese has kicked in $550,000.

Even with the new totals, Stand for Marriage Maine remained at a financial disadvantage to their opponents, but that was no cause for alarm, said spokesman Scott Fish.

“Our hope is that this ... will close the gap,” said Fish, adding that an intense fundraising push will continue in the days ahead.

Political action committees must file their final campaign contribution reports with the campaign Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices by 11:59 p.m. Friday.

The prime PAC opposing repeal of Maine’s same-sex marriage law, NO on 1/Protect Maine Equality, had not filed by early Friday evening. Earlier reports showed NO on 1 had raised $2.7 million, compared to $1.1 million for Stand for marriage Maine.

With its Nov. 3 referendum, Maine is seen as a testing ground for gay-marriage laws around the country. Six states recognize gay marriage either by legislative action or court order, while 30 states have constitutionally banned it.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) – The Navy says it will discipline the former leader of a bomb-sniffing dog unit in Bahrain following an investigation into allegations of hazing and sexual harassment.

Among the alleged victims was a gay sailor who said he developed post-traumatic stress disorder from the abuse and left the Navy by outing himself.

The decision to discipline Chief Petty Officer Michael Toussaint (too-‘SAHNT) was announced Wednesday, following the Navy’s decision last month to review more than 90 allegations occurring between 2004 and 2006.

The Secretary of the Navy also is issuing a letter of censure.

The Chief of Naval Operations has directed the Naval Criminal Investigative Service to conduct additional interviews with Navy personnel who were formerly stationed in Bahrain.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Sharon Lubinski was a little-known police sergeant in Minneapolis when she first made headlines by coming out as a lesbian on the front pages of the city’s largest newspaper. It was a bold move that other gay officers say inspired them to come out.

More than a decade later, Lubinski could become the first openly gay U.S. marshal after President Barack Obama nominated her last week.

Some gay activists say Obama’s appointment is nothing more than a symbolic gesture from a president who hasn’t done enough on key gay issues. But others say it’s another step toward ending a culture of discrimination.

Lubinski is now the assistant police chief in Minneapolis. When she came out in 1993, Lubinski said she was afraid but the risk was worth it.

ALBANY, New York (AP) – New York Gov. David Paterson says he expects to sign a same-sex marriage bill into law in the coming weeks.

Paterson says he expects the state Senate to give the measure final legislative approval in the coming weeks and then he will sign it. That would make New York the seventh state to legalize same-sex marriage.

Paterson can’t force the Senate to take up the bill and admitted to reporters he can’t guarantee its approval, but he says he’s now confident it will pass, as advocates and sponsors of the bill in Albany have been quietly working to build support.

The bill was blocked by a summer coup in the Senate in the final days of the regular session in June. The Democrat-led Assembly has already passed the measure.

Paterson’s statements Thursday came at the fall dinner in Manhattan of the influential gay rights group Empire State Pride Agenda. He said New York will have marriage equality “as a result of a law we will pass in the New York Senate, already passed in the Assembly, and will be signed by the governor, just in the next few weeks.”

The 1,200 people at the dinner cheered Paterson’s remarks.

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (AP) – The Diocese of South Carolina has voted to distance itself but not completely split from the national Episcopal Church because of church positions on same-sex unions and ordination of gays.

Canon Kendall Harmon says clergy members passed the resolution after a lengthy debate during a special convention Saturday in Mount Pleasant.

Bishop Mark Lawrence has said the diocese does not want a split but a discussion with the national church on issues that have prompted some dioceses and parishes to leave.

In 2003, the national church consecrated its first openly gay bishop and last summer, at its national convention, authorized bishops to bless same-sex unions.

The Diocese of South Carolina is one of two in the state and has about 30,000 members.

SEATTLE (AP) – A Russian-born man accused of advising straight immigrants to claim homosexuality – and potential persecution in their home countries – when they applied for asylum has been sentenced to 18 months in prison.

Steven Mahoney touted himself as an expert in immigration affairs and ran Mahoney and Associates in Kent, which advised immigrants on how to stay in the U.S. He pleaded guilty in April, acknowledging that from 1998-2007 he filed as many as 99 false immigration documents.