ALAMEDA, Calif. (AP) – Following months of heated debate, the Alameda Board of Education has voted to phase out the elementary school curriculum it adopted in May to prevent anti-gay bullying.

The five member school board voted 4-1 to replace the controversial curriculum with more generic lessons that promote tolerance.

In a related move, however, the board went on to accept Superintendent Kirsten Vital’s recommendation to supplement the broader anti-bullying program with children’s books that explicitly address six specific forms of bias, including against gays.

The recommendation was meant to counter complaints from parents opposed to the original lessons that it was wrong to highlight only one type of bullying.

TAMPA, Florida (AP) – A transgender teenager says a McDonald’s restaurant in Florida discriminated against her when managers refused to interview her for a job, according to a complaint filed Monday.

Zikerria Bellamy, 17, said two managers at an Orlando restaurant wouldn’t give her an interview on two separate occasions in July. Later, she said a manager left her a voice mail, using a gay slur to let her know she wouldn’t be hired.

A spokeswoman for the local restaurant, Allison Garrett, said in a statement the employee who left the voice mail “acted outside the scope of his authority and was not responsible for hiring.” He no longer works at the restaurant. The statement did not mention the other manager.

McDonald’s “has a zero tolerance policy prohibiting discrimination or harassment in the restaurant,” the statement said.

Bellamy is a male who has been living as a female for about the past six years. She said she completed a job application online, then was called to the store for an interview. When one manager refused to see her, she called later and was granted an interview with another manager.

“He began to laugh at me once he saw me,” said Bellamy, who wore a suit to the interview. “He said, ‘Oh, I can’t interview you today. I’m busy.””

One of the managers also left her a voice mail saying: “We do not hire faggots.”

The New York-based Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund, which filed the complaint on Bellamy’s behalf, posted a recording of the message on YouTube.

Florida law does not specifically protect transgender people from discrimination, but administrative rulings have covered them under the Florida Civil Rights Act’s prohibitions on sex and disability discrimination, said Michael Silverman, executive director of the advocacy group.

Silverman said only 12 states have anti-discrimination laws specifically covering gender identity. Federal legislation recently was proposed and could be considered by Congress next year.

McDonald’s Corp. is based in Oak Brook, Illinois.

WATERVILLE, Maine (AP) – A longtime US newspaper reporter says he was unjustly fired after writing a personal e-mail to gay marriage supporters rebuking their tactics.

The Portland Newspaper Guild has filed a grievance on behalf of 58-year-old Larry Grard, who says he was fired Nov. 10 from the Morning Sentinel newspaper.

Grard sent an e-mail to the Human Rights Campaign the day after Maine voters repealed a law that would have allowed gay couples to wed.

Grard said he was offended that the organization claimed gay marriage opponents used hate and said it was supporters who were being hateful.

A Human Rights Campaign worker who saw the e-mail complained to the paper but said he did not ask for Grard to be fired.

Grard said his lapse in judgment shouldn’t warrant dismissal.

The newspaper’s management did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

TRENTON, New Jersey (AP) – Bruce Springsteen has posted a statement on his Web site urging support of the y marriage bill that’s up for a vote in New Jersey’s Senate on Thursday.

Springsteen wrote that he’s long believed in and has “always spoken out for the rights of same-sex couples.”

The singer says he agrees with Gov. Jon Corzine that marriage equality is a civil rights issue.

Gov.-elect Chris Christie is a big Springsteen fan, but the Republican has said he would veto the bill. A state Senate committee approved the bill by one vote on Monday.

Democrats concede the measure may fall short of the 21 votes needed to pass the Senate.

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) – New Jersey’s Senate president has agreed to postpone the scheduled vote on Dec. 10 for a bill to legalize same-sex marriages, and some senators have acknowledged the bill does not have the votes it needs to pass the Senate.

Senate President Richard Codey said he’ll honor a request from the bill’s Senate sponsors to delay Senate action.

Sen. Ray Lesniak told The Associated Press that he and co-sponsor Sen. Loretta Weinberg want the bill to receive parallel consideration in the Assembly.

Assembly Speaker Joe Roberts has not committed to posting the bill.

Some senators said that they doubted the bill would have received the 21 votes needed to pass the Senate on Dec. 10.

DALLAS (AP) – The Episcopal Church should respond with “prayer and discernment” to the recent election of a lesbian priest as an assistant bishop of the Los Angeles diocese, Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori said Saturday.

Although the Rev. Mary Glasspool of Baltimore was elected earlier this month, she must be approved by a majority of Episcopal dioceses before she can be consecrated, and that could take several months, said Jefferts Schori, the church’s head.

“The process isn’t finished until it’s finished,” she said.

The Episcopal Church is the Anglican body in the United States. In 2003, it caused an uproar by consecrating its first openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire.

The following year, Anglican leaders asked the Episcopal Church to hold off on electing another gay bishop while they tried to prevent a permanent break in the fellowship.

But in July, the U.S. church’s top policy making body affirmed that gay and lesbian priests were eligible to become bishops despite pressure from other Anglicans.

The Archbishop of Canterbury called for gracious restraint on the matter, but Jefferts Schori said Saturday that “there was never any time frame attached to that request.”

She added that she didn’t know whether six years was long enough to wait but “the church is in the process of discerning that.”

The liberal-leaning Jefferts Schori spoke at a news conference with the more conservative Rev. William C. Frey, the retired bishop of Colorado who is now assisting bishop of the Diocese of the Rio Grande.

The two were in Dallas as part of a lecture series sponsored by St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church in Dallas, one of the nation’s largest Episcopal churches. About 600 people attended their talk.

Frey noted there have always been disagreements in the church, but with Christmas just two weeks away, he said he’s praying for healing.

“We are a wounded church,” he said. “There’s not doubt about that, at least not in my mind.

“I pray for healing and reconciliation.”

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – The Salt Lake County Council on Tuesday considered anti-discrimination ordinances to protect gays.

Council Chair Joe Hatch said Utah’s most populous county is poised to follow Salt Lake City’s lead in banning discrimination against gays in housing and employment.

Councilmember David Wilde said he expects all his Republican colleagues to vote for the ordinances.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has endorsed the measures as protecting people’s right to work and have a roof over their heads.

The ordinances would exempt religious organizations, businesses with fewer than 15 employees and some small landlords.