CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — A Middlesex Superior Court judge said he would decide whether an attorney for the Rev. Paul Shanley can use confidential files as he prepares to defend his client against child rape and abuse charges.

Shanley, a key figure in the church sexual abuse scandal, and his attorney, Frank Mondano, appeared briefly before Judge Paul A. Chernoff for a pre-trial hearing. Mondano has asked prosecutors for documents that he claims are necessary to prepare Shanley’s defense.

Chernoff said he would review the files to determine if they could be released to Mondano and prosecutors.

After the hearing, Mondano said the records were therapy files for three of four men whose allegations form the basis of the state’s case against Shanley. He said he expected that the documents would be released.

“I think it is a no-brainer,” he said.

Shanley is free on bail while his criminal case is pending.

Shanley also faces pending lawsuits by 10 victims and their family members who refused to sign onto a massive $85 million settlement with the church.

Shanley was once known for his street ministry to gay and troubled youth. He became a focal point of the church abuse scandal after internal church records disclosed in separate civil lawsuits showed that officials did not remove him from parish work even after they received complaints about statements he made about sex between men and boys.

Church files also indicated that he had attended a meeting that was a precursor to the later formation of the North American Man-Boy Love Association.

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (AP) — To promote the legalization of same-sex marriages, the pastors at South Church plan to sign marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples they wed and mail them to City Hall for approval.

Following a practice accepted in the Unitarian Universalist faith, the church has performed marriage ceremonies for gay and lesbian couples for more than 15 years, even though the unions are not recognized by law.

The move departs from a rebellious approach taken by other Unitarian Universalist ministries. Parishes as far as California and as close as Exeter have refused to marry straight couples until same-sex marriages are recognized by law.

The Rev. Will Saunders said that protest, while admirable, is not the best way to effect change. A marriage strike, he said, has the potential to “anger heterosexuals who just want to marry.”

Saunders said that he and his wife, the Rev. Marta Flanagan, will address the issue from the pulpit Jan. 11.

The church advises same-sex couples to hire a lawyer to ensure that they get all the legal privileges available, which are significantly fewer than those granted to straight couples.

The next gay or lesbian couple to schedule a wedding there, he said, can fill out the new certificate designed from the template used for heterosexual couples.

Last fall, the Rev. Kendra Ford of the First Unitarian Society of Exeter announced that while she will continue to perform ceremonies for both straight and same-sex couples, she will sign marriage certificates for neither until marriages of all couples are recognized by law.

Julia Rodriguez, a South Church parishioner from Durham, said different congregations must choose how strong they make their statement.

“What were seeing now is a tension between taking a gradual or more rapid approach to change,” Rodriguez said. “Do we speak out or do we disrupt?”

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. (AP) — Same-sex couples can marry at a Portsmouth church — but their unions won’t be recognized by City Hall.

Pastors at South Church, which is under the Unitarian Universalist faith, plan to sign marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples they wed and send them to City Hall. They’ve been marrying same-sex couples at the church for more than 15 years; they just haven’t sent in the paperwork.

State law mandates city workers must reject marriage licenses presented to them by same-sex couples. The pastors, Will Saunders and Marta Flanagan, say they will send the marriage licenses, anyway.

Workers at the Portsmouth city clerk’s office file some 200 marriage licenses for heterosexual couples each year, but they say they have never received a marriage license from a gay or lesbian couple.

South Church plans to host a forum on the matter and address the issue from the pulpit on Jan. 11.

DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Fighting the flu, Tammy Faye Messner still made it to the Triangle to host a “drag bingo” event to raise money for an AIDS service organization.

About 700 people attended the event in Durham, N.C., led by the televangelist brought down in the PTL scandal with former husband, Jim Bakker.

Messner, who remarried and lives in the Charlotte area, said it wasn’t such a stretch for her to headline an event that helps people with HIV and AIDS. She pointed out that she was one of the first women to speak out about caring for people with AIDS when she was on the PTL Network.

“I was just doing what Jesus wanted me to do,” Messner said, adding that God loves and accepts everyone.

Those who attended the bingo event at the Durham Armory downtown seemed appreciative of Messner.

“If Tammy Faye made a mistake at one time, look what she is doing now,” said Claudia Haskins, a Chapel Hill teacher.

About 15 drag queens participated in “An Evening with Tammy Faye,” including “Sierra Nevada,” who wore a royal blue church dress and heels.

“I am wearing sensible shoes and this church dress because it is Tammy Faye, and because my feet still hurt from wearing eight-inch heels a month ago,” Sierra Nevada said.

The event was expected to raise $10,000 for Alliance of AIDS Services-Carolina. Those who attended filled out bingo cards as numbers were called by Messner, who joined the drag queens in entertaining the crowd.

Messner will appear on the WB network’s “The Surreal Life” starting Jan. 11.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Prosecutors in Mecklenburg County have dropped embezzlement charges against the former director of a gay cultural group.

Dwight Bassett, 43, was charged with embezzling $2,500 from OutCharlotte when he resigned in August 2002. He and other organization leaders disagreed about how much Bassett was owed at his resignation.

Bassett, a development manager for the city of Rock Hill, S.C., pleaded innocent at a court hearing last fall. A jury trial was scheduled for last month, but charges were dismissed before the court date.

Bassett was unavailable for comment.

“Dwight’s just glad to close this chapter in his life,” said his attorney, George Laughrun.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold says he will fight a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage.

“It is unbelievable to me that we would use our Constitution to deal with an issue like that,” the Wisconsin Democrat said to The Capital Times of Madison editorial board.

Feingold serves as the ranking Democrat on the Constitution subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The committee held hearings on the subject this summer.

“I think we did very well in pointing out how inappropriate it is for the federal government to have a constitutional amendment to take the decision away from the states,” he said.

Some lawmakers are proposing the amendment in response to recent federal and state court rulings.

Last summer, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down anti-sodomy laws, saying they were an unconstitutional invasion of privacy. The Massachusetts Supreme Court recently decided the state could not legitimately deny same-sex couples the right to marry.

A recent Badger Poll found nearly two-thirds of Wisconsin residents would support a constitutional amendment forbidding gay marriage.

Yet Feingold said the topic came up only a handful of times during his listening sessions around the state this year.

Feingold said health care, foreign affairs and civil liberties topped the list of citizen concerns.