WASHINGTON (AP) - The Pentagon is at odds with gay rights groups after sending out a survey asking troops what they would do if gays were allowed to serve openly.

Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell told reporters Friday it was “nonsense” to suggest that the 103-question survey was biased. But gay rights groups say the survey assumes troops don’t want to serve with openly gay service members and uses repeatedly the term “homosexual,” which they say is derogatory. The survey also doesn’t ask troops if they think the current ban is harmful. The survey was prepared by the researching firm Westat under a $4.5 million contract. Among the questions in the survey is how a service member would respond if assigned to a room with a gay person.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - A split decision from Presbyterian leaders on two gay-friendly measures guarantees even more debate among the U.S. church’s members on an issue they’ve been divided over for years.

Delegates to the Presbyterian church’s convention in Minneapolis voted Thursday for a more liberal policy on gay clergy but decided not to redefine marriage in their church constitution to include same-sex couples. Approval of both measures could have made the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) one of the most gay-friendly major Christian churches in the U.S.

Even the more liberal stance on gay clergy faces more debate before it can become church policy. A majority of the church’s 173 U.S. presbyteries must approve it. Two years ago - after years of efforts by supporters - a similar measure was sent out to presbyteries but died when 94 of them voted against it.

Both of Thursday’s votes were close. Fifty-one percent of delegates voted to shelve the proposal to redefine marriage as being between “two people” instead of between “a man and a woman,” just hours after 53 percent of them voted to allow non-celibate gays in committed relationships to serve as clergy.

On Friday, delegates voted down a motion to reconsider the marriage vote. It needed a two-thirds majority to come back to the floor and got just 40 percent. Gay rights supporters must wait two years until the next general assembly for another shot.

Shelving the marriage matter means church committees will spend the next two years reviewing the issue.

“We Presbyterians love to study, which is not a bad thing,” said Cindy Bolbach, an elder at National Capital Presbytery in Washington and the assembly’s elected moderator. “We’re talking about some major new steps.”

But supporters say Presbyterians have spent enough time mulling it over.

“I think we’re seeing acts of desperation by those who feel their way of life is slipping away,” the Rev. Ray Bagnuolo, the openly gay pastor of Janhus Presbyterian Church in New York City, said after the marriage vote. “Progress takes time. But to gay and lesbian people, it says their relationships, who they are, does not matter to this church. I don’t call that Christian or loving.”

Even some conservative Presbyterians were surprised by the fate of the marriage measure.

“I didn’t see this turn of events coming,” said Jerry Andrews, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in San Diego.

He said redefining marriage may have been one step too far for delegates who just hours earlier voted for the more liberal clergy policy.

“I think as the day went on, the mood became more conservative,” Andrews said.

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is ranked the 10th-largest church in the U.S. with 2.8 million members, according to the National Council of Churches’ 2010 “Yearbook of American and Canadian Churches.” The church’s media materials tout 2.1 million members.

Under current church policy, Presbyterians are eligible to become clergy, deacons or elders only if they are married or celibate. The new policy would strike references to sexuality altogether in favor of candidates committed to “joyful submission to worship of Christ.”

Several major Christian denominations have voted in recent years to allow non-celibate gays to serve as clergy if they are in committed relationships. Among them are the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, the U.S. Episcopal Church and the United Church of Christ.

Fewer major U.S. denominations have taken the step of fully endorsing gay marriage. Only two, the United Church of Christ and the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations, have explicitly allowed it.

Delegates at the Presbyterian assembly also shelved a separate measure that would have removed the threat of punishment for clergy who perform same-sex marriages in states where it’s legal.

NEW YORK (AP) - After a meeting with gay and lesbian activists on Thursday, NBC’s “Today” show said it is changing the rules for its annual wedding contest to allow same-sex couples to apply for a ceremony conducted on morning TV.

NBC extended the deadline for applications until Monday. Already thousands of couples have expressed interest in the on-air wedding, which the top-rated morning show has sponsored for a decade, a spokeswoman said.

“We’re thrilled that `Today’ show’s `Modern Wedding Contest’ now recognizes what most fair-minded Americans have already concluded - a wedding celebrates love and commitment, whether the spouses are straight or gay,” said Jarrett Barrios, president of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

Viewers plan every aspect of the wedding, from the cake to the clothing styles of attendants. NBC picks four couples from thousands of applicants, and viewers vote on which of those couples will participate.

Same-sex couples have been excluded because New York state law does not allow them to get wedding licenses. But NBC said GLAAD pointed out that a same-sex couple would be able to get a license from another state and still have their ceremony in New York.

NBC said it had listened to voicemails and read e-mails protesting its decision not to allow same-sex marriages. The show considers relations with the gay and lesbian community very important, it said in a statement.

“Moving forward, we ensure that our future wedding contests will be inclusive to all couples,” NBC said.

The only time same-sex couples were allowed to apply for the “Today” wedding was in 2005, when an out-of-state wedding was held, said show spokeswoman Megan Kopf. No gay or lesbian couples were among the finalists, however.

Although “Today” viewers will decide which couple to get married on TV, it will choose from among four that “Today” producers screen and put up for a vote. So there’s no guarantee that even if same-sex couples apply for the on-air wedding, viewers will have a chance to select one to participate.

GLAAD said it only learned last week that same-sex couples weren’t allowed to apply, and issued a “call to action” for members to complain to NBC. Thousands did, the organization said. w