SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – The federal challenge to California’s same-sex marriage ban is attracting nationwide attention in the form of “friend of the court” briefs.

Groups and individuals supporting and opposed to same-sex marriage submitted a flurry of opinions on the subject Feb. 3, the deadline Chief U.S. Judge Vaughn R. Walker had set for the filing of amicus briefs.

Among those siding with the pair of same-sex couples suing to overturn the 2008 law passed by voters as Proposition 8 were the National Association of Social Workers, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the General Synod of the United Church of Christ and a retired state appeals court judge.

Last month, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy, the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty and the National Organization for Marriage were among those supporting the ban’s sponsors.

CALDWELL, Idaho (AP) – The southwestern Idaho city of Caldwell has added language to guard against discriminating against gays and lesbians applying for city jobs.

The Caldwell City Council unanimously voted this week to add sexual orientation to the list of categories the city must disregard in its treatment of employees and job applicants.

The city’s employment policy already bars discrimination on the basis of race, gender, nationality, religion, age and others.

The vote won praise from the American Civil Liberties Union, which pushed for the policy change. Barring discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation has already been embraced by other Idaho cities, including Boise, Idaho Falls and Pocatello.

The policy is effective immediately.

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – A Senate panel has endorsed a bill that would prohibit discrimination in Kansas based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

The bill was advanced Feb. 4 by the Senate Federal and State Affairs Committee, with three voting against it.

The bill would ban discrimination in employment, housing or public accommodations based on sexual orientation. Kansas law already covers discrimination related to race, religion, color, sex, disability, national origin or ancestry.

Tom Witt, chairman of the Kansas Equity Coalition, says the issue is one of fairness. The group has been proposing the bill since 2005.

Late last session, the committee sent the bill to Senate for debate but it was pulled from the calendar and sent back to the panel.

ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) – Members of a Maryland House committee shot down a bill that would prohibit Maryland from recognizing same-sex marriages validated by other states or countries.

The House of Delegates Judiciary Committee voted against the proposal from Baltimore County Delegate Emmett C. Burns Jr. on Feb. 3. The same committee has rejected similar measures introduced in other years. Their vote prevents the bill from going to the House floor for debate.

In neighboring Washington, D.C., same-sex couples will likely be able to apply soon for marriage licenses. The district’s City Council passed a bill in December legalizing same-sex marriage.

Congress oversees the district’s laws, however, and the bill must pass a period of 30-day review by Congress.

BOSTON (AP) – A woman who battled the U.S. tax system in court to win a deduction for the costs of her sex-change operation says she feels like she won a victory for all transgender people.

Rhiannon O’Donnabhain, who was born a man, sued the federal Internal Revenue Service in 2007 after the agency rejected a $5,000 deduction for about $25,000 in medical expenses. The agency had contended the sex-change surgery was a cosmetic procedure and not medically necessary.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Tax Court ruled that O’Donnabhain should be allowed to deduct the costs of her treatment for gender-identity disorder, including sex-change surgery and hormone treatments.

“The tax court has spoken for my community and has supported my community by saying that this is a proper medical deduction, much the same as an appendectomy or open heart surgery,” O’Donnabhain said in an interview Wednesday.

“It certainly is not cosmetic surgery as the IRS contended,” she said.

Internal Revenue Service spokeswoman Michelle Eldridge declined to comment on the ruling.

The legal group Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, which represented O’Donnabhain, said the decision could potentially affect thousands of people in the U.S. who undergo similar operations.

Lambda Legal, a national civil rights group for homosexuals, bisexuals and transgender people, also hailed the ruling.

“It ratifies what the medical community has said clearly for years, which is for people with gender identity disorder, this type of surgery is frequently a medical necessity for their lives and for their health and for their well-being,” said Hayley Gorenberg, the group’s deputy legal director.

The Tax Court voted 11-5 to grant the deduction.

In a dissenting opinion, Judge David Gustafson said he believes sex reassignment surgery falls within the “cosmetic surgery” category of the tax code and the expense is therefore not deductible.

O’Donnabhain said she underwent sex-reassignment surgery at age 57, after a tormented existence as a father, husband, Coast Guardsman and construction worker.

An estimated 1,600 to 2,000 people a year undergo sex-change surgery in the United States, according to the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association.

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) – Gov. Bill Richardson remains optimistic about chances in the Legislature for a proposal to allow domestic partnerships.

The Democratic governor said Wednesday he doesn’t want the bill to become bottled up in a state Senate committee this session and has been meeting with senators to try to arrange for a vote by the full Senate.

The bill would give unmarried same-sex and opposite-sex couples the legal protections and benefits of married couples, including on issues such as the authority to make end-of-life decisions for a partner and inheritance rights.

The bill has cleared one committee but needs to get through another. The Senate agreed Thursday to a procedural move that sent the bill to the Finance Committee and bypassed the Judiciary Committee, which had been assigned to consider the proposal.

“I think every senator should get a chance to vote on it. This is an important civil rights issue. I know it’s controversial,” said Richardson.

The Judiciary Committee postponed a vote on the bill Wednesday because a winter storm made travel hazardous in the Santa Fe area.

Richardson acknowledged that the bill – even if it gets to the Senate floor – faces strong opposition. The chamber rejected a domestic partnership bill last year on a 27-15 vote, with 10 Democrats joined the chamber’s 15 Republicans in opposing the proposal.

“It’s going to be a close vote, still a bit uphill, but I remain positive and optimistic,” Richardson said.

Opponents, including the New Mexico Conference of Catholic Bishops, view the legislation as a potential step toward gay marriage. However, supporters say the measure will create contractual rights that are not the same as marriage.

Linda Siegle, a lobbyist for Equality New Mexico, said she was encouraged that Richardson was pushing for a vote by the full Senate.

The legislation faces difficulty in the Finance Committee because seven of its 11 members voted against the bill last year when it failed in the Senate.

Richardson said he disagreed that the legislation was doomed because of the Finance Committee assignment, which was added Tuesday.

“I don’t think it’s dead, and I don’t think it’s on life support. It’s had a setback, but it is a procedural setback,” said Richardson.

If the measure can pass the Senate, supporters are confident it could be enacted because the House has approved domestic partnership proposals in the past.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Ohio members of Congress are all over the map on whether the U.S. should repeal its ban on gays serving openly in the military.

President Barack Obama has vowed to end the restriction, and Defense Secretary Robert Gates has told Congress he’s having the matter studied.

A spokeswoman for Sen. George Voinovich says the Republican will wait for the Pentagon’s report before making a judgment.

Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown supports a repeal, as does central Ohio Democratic Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy, who says she’s troubled by the ban.

Rep. Jim Jordan says it should remain in place. The western Ohio Republican says he’s concerned about jeopardizing the military’s “effectiveness, readiness and preparedness.”

Gates says any change would take at least a year.