HOUMA, La. (AP) – A 23-year-old former employee of a gay bar has been booked with murdering the bar’s manager, 39-year-old Robert LeCompte.

Jorell Young was held in lieu of $2 million bond after being booked Friday with first-degree murder and armed robbery.

Young was among the last people seen at the Drama Club before it closed Christmas morning, said Maj. Malcolm Wolfe, a spokesman for the Terrebonne Parish Sheriff’s Office.

He said Friday that detectives received “more detailed information that linked Young to this murder,” but he refused to discuss details.

Nellie Young, 46, said her son went to the club Christmas Eve for what he described as a reunion of employees and patrons.

LeCompte was stabbed at least 10 times early Christmas Day. About $4,000 was missing from the bar.

Wolfe said Young denies any connection to the killing.

Nellie Young said her son lived with her for much of 2009. She said he took her to a bar on Christmas Eve; when she came home the next morning, he was asleep on the couch with Darkus Baker, who was then his fiancee.

She said her son answered the phone and began to cry – a rare emotional action for him. He had just learned, she said, that LeCompte was dead.

Young said her son kept repeating: “Ma, we all had so much fun last night.”

She said a deputy knocked, asking to question Jorell Young, while he was trying to call other friends who had been at the club.

Kendall Creel, a female impersonator who performs at the club on a regular basis, said many regular patrons were frightened away by the killing.

“I am glad they finally made an arrest,” Creel said. “I think it will make us sleep better at night.”

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – Supporters of same-sex marriage have called for Nebraska to join the few states that have legalized the unions.

A rally was held Saturday at the midpoint of a pedestrian bridge over the Missouri River linking Iowa and Nebraska. Participants celebrated last April’s Iowa Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage in that state and called for Nebraska to follow suit.

Susie Brenner and Linda Beckstead of Omaha were among 101 same-sex couples married in Iowa last year. Brenner says it’s time for Nebraska to recognize their marriage and give them the same benefits of other married couples.

NEW YORK (AP) – A gay rights campaign that features a declaration of bisexuality by actress Anna Paquin has received so much traffic that its Web site crashed.

The campaign was launched Thursday by Cyndi Lauper’s True Colors Fund. The Web-based initiative hopes to educate for “the advancement of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender equality.”

The campaign drew particular interest because the video features Paquin, the 27-year-old star of HBO’s vampire series “True Blood,” declaring she’s bisexual.

The Web site, www.wegiveadamn.org, said Friday that it was “overwhelmed” by the “enormous traffic.” Additional servers have been added.

The video also includes appearances by Elton John, Whoopi Goldberg, Jason Mraz, Cynthia Nixon and others.

HILLTOWN, Pa. (AP) – Police in eastern Pennsylvania are looking for a convenience store robber who threatened clerks with a hypodermic that he said contained the HIV virus.

Police in Hilltown Township say the man used the threat at a Wawa convenience store on Bethlehem Pike just before 4 a.m., but the clerk refused to hand over any money and the robber ran off.

A few minutes later, the same man threatened a clerk outside the A-Plus Sunoco on the same highway. He forced the clerk inside to the register and escaped with an undisclosed amount of money.

Neither clerk was injured.

In January in Delaware County, a man was arrested on charges of robbing at least four businesses by displaying a needle and saying it contained the HIV virus.

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – Salt Lake City’s landmark ordinances to protect gays from discrimination in housing and employment have taken effect.

Mayor Ralph Becker was joined by gay-rights advocates at a ceremony Friday marking implementation of Utah’s first such laws.

John W. Bennett, who is gay and a nephew of Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, praised the capital city for taking the lead in offering the protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender residents.

He recalled being fired from a state government job in 1986 for his sexual orientation.

“This is truly a good Friday. Today I’m ecstatic,” Bennett said.

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

The laws exempt religious organizations, businesses with 15 or fewer employees and some small landlords. They also create a complaint and investigation process for violations.

“(The laws are) not providing any special treatment to any class,” Becker said. “We hope the simplicity and sensibility of these ordinances will serve everyone in this community well.”

Equality Utah has launched a campaign to get 10 more Utah cities or counties to pass similar anti-discrimination ordinances this year.

Salt Lake County, Utah’s most populous county, earlier followed Salt Lake City’s lead in passing such laws.

Utah’s second largest city, West Valley City, and Park City are moving toward passage.

Discussions are ongoing with Holladay, Taylorsville, Moab, Ogden, Midvale, Summit County and others, said Brandie Balken, Equality Utah executive director.

“We can build on our early successes in Salt Lake City and Salt Lake County, and believe we can achieve 10 in 2010,” Balken said.

Public meetings will be held across Utah about the need for statewide housing and employment protections, Balken added. A comprehensive report will be presented to the Legislature next year.

Senate President Michael Waddoups, R-Taylorsville, warns that if any local governments expand their ordinances beyond Salt Lake City’s, the Legislature likely would step in to prevent them from adopting anti-discrimination measures.

MADISON, Wisconsin (AP) – A federal judge has struck down a Wisconsin law that prohibits transgender inmates from receiving taxpayer-funded hormone therapy.

A group of male inmates who identify as female had challenged the 2006 law. They say they need the therapy to treat their gender identity disorder.

U.S. District Judge Charles Clevert issued the order Wednesday. He ruled the law was unconstitutional and cannot be enforced.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin and gay-rights group Lambda Legal say the law was the only one of its kind in the nation that denied such medical care to transgender inmates.

A spokesman for Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen says the state is considering an appeal.