PHOENIX (AP) – A state senator resigned from her Republican leadership position over Senate President Ken Bennett’s decision to let the chamber vote on a same-sex marriage proposal.

Republican Carolyn Allen of Scottsdale said she quit as the Senate’s president pro tem because Bennett reneged on a promise not to bring the nonbinding measure to a vote.

Bennett said he never promised to keep the Senate from voting on the measure, which would urge Congress to pass a constitutional amendment banning same-sex unions.

Even though state law already outlaws same-sex marriages, supporters say the nonbinding proposal before the Legislature would further prevent judges from overturning the prohibition.

Opponents say the measure treats gays and lesbians differently from heterosexuals and that its backers are pandering to the religious right in an election year.

The measure cleared the state House easily in March but stalled in the Senate, where supporters said they were one vote short of getting it through the Legislature.

Even though it’s unlikely the same-sex marriage proposal (HCM2004) will pass the Senate, Allen said same-sex marriage opponents are trying to use the vote to target her and other moderate Republicans who are up for election.

“It’s not going to get out of here, and he knows that,” said Allen, who remains a state senator even though she gave up her leadership post.

The president pro tem, a largely honorary post, presides over the Senate in the president’s absence. Allen served as a member of the Republican majority’s budget negotiating team this year.

Allen said she opposes same-sex marriage but wouldn’t vote on the measure.

BOSTON (AP) – Under pressure from Gov. Mitt Romney, Provincetown officials backed down and said they will stop issuing marriage licenses to out-of-state gay and lesbian couples.

Provincetown, a gay and lesbian tourist spot on Cape Cod, was one of four communities that openly defied Romney’s order not to let nonresident gay and lesbian couples wed when same-sex marriage became legal in Massachusetts on May 17.

Romney said such marriages are forbidden under a 1913 state law that bars all unions that would not be legal in a couple’s home state. The Republican also threatened unspecified legal action against clerks who violate his instructions.

An attorney for Provincetown, Gretchen Van Ness, said the town is exploring its legal options, including a possible challenge of the 1913 law.

On the governor’s instructions, Democratic Attorney General Thomas Reilly issued a cease-and-desist order to clerks in Provincetown, Somerville, Springfield and Worcester.

Provincetown was the last to stop issuing licenses to nonresidents.

“We firmly believe that it is unlawful and unconstitutional to deny out-of-state same-sex couples the right to marry in Massachusetts,” said Provincetown Board of Selectmen Chair Cheryl Andrews, who married her longtime partner.

Provincetown issued 14 same-sex marriage licenses to out-of-state couples who do not intend to move to Massachusetts.

Clerks in two other communities, Attleboro and Fall River, recently acknowledged they had also been issuing licenses to out-of-state gay and lesbian couples. They had not publicly announced their intention to do so and have not yet been targeted by Reilly or Romney.

FERNDALE, Mich. (AP) – Mayor Robert Porter and a minister plan to officiate at the mass wedding of up to a dozen gay and lesbian couples outside City Hall to demonstrate support for legalizing same-sex marriage in Michigan.

Porter said he is taking part in the ceremony June 5 at the request of the Rev. Mark Bidwell of the Metropolitan Community Church of Detroit, located in Ferndale.

The mayor said he hopes his presence sends a message that gay and lesbian people should be allowed to marry legally.

“A strong commitment or marriage strengthens all communities,” Porter told The Daily Tribune of Royal Oak. “I think it is discriminatory that gay couples are not allowed to marry.”

The ceremony is set one day before one of the state’s largest gay and lesbian festivals, Motor City Pride, is planned for Ferndale. The annual festival is organized by the Triangle Foundation and is expected to draw thousands.

HALEDON, N.J. (AP) – A police sergeant has sued the borough and several officials, claiming he was passed over for promotion because he is gay.

Sgt. James Len filed suit in state Superior Court against the borough, Mayor Ken Pengitore, Councilmember Ayman Mamkej and Police Chief Harold Engold Jr. All three defendants said they had not seen the suit and declined to comment when reached by the Herald News of West Paterson.

Len is seeking punitive and compensatory damages, claiming he was subjected to a hostile work environment because of his sexual orientation.

He claims officers rigged the evaluation process to prevent him from being promoted to lieutenant. He also says fellow officers harassed him and made anti-gay comments.

Len claims he asked police officials to investigate his allegations of harassment, but was refused, and that disciplinary charges filed against him last year were fabricated to discriminate against him because he is gay.

According to the suit, Len, 42, told his wife and children in April 2002 that he is gay. He moved out two months later.

As word circulated through the police department, others began treating Len differently, according to his lawyer, Charles Sciarra.

“He was in line for promotions and was on the short list for the chief of police,” Sciarra told the newspaper. “Len went from favorite son to pariah instantaneously. They did not just ostracize Jim; they targeted his job solely because it was revealed he is gay.”

The suit claims several officials assured Len he would be promoted to lieutenant, but withdrew their support after learning he was gay.

In November, Len was charged with 14 departmental disciplinary charges for allegedly leaving Haledon while on duty on Aug. 27, 2003, but the borough council dismissed the charges in March.

Also in November, Len arrested Mamkej, charging him with drunk driving. Mamkej said Len arrested him in retaliation for the filing of disciplinary charges.

Earlier this month, a municipal court judge riled that Len had probable cause to arrest the council member, whose case has not yet gone to trial.

DAYTON, Tenn. (AP) – Two people arrested for protesting a Gay Day celebration on May 8 say they were not treated fairly by police.

Michael Siemers and Brian O’Connell were arrested by local police for disorderly conduct and interfering with a special event at Gay Day – which was organized to celebrate defeat of a Rhea County effort to ban gays and lesbians.

Their attorney says the two were not planning on protesting the event but were instead walking to a different location to present an anti-gay message.

According to Dayton police, officers told the two they could not carry signs in the event area without an event permit. The report said the behavior of the two men was threatening.

The Gay Day event was held in Dayton, the town best known as the site of the 1925 Scopes “monkey” trial about the teaching of evolution, after county commissioners tried to outlaw homosexuality.

After Gay Day was organized, some Christian groups decided to hold their own event a day earlier espousing the evils of homosexuality. Some protesters, along with Siemers and O’Connell, also showed up at Gay Day.

Stephen Crampton, a Tupelo, Miss., attorney with the American Family Association, said Siemers and O’Connell might sue the city once criminal charges are settled.

“[Dayton police] wanted to be so sure that they treated the homosexuals properly that they went overboard and removed anyone with a opposing viewpoint from the Gay Day event,” Crampton said.

The two protesters have criminal hearings set for June 22.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – Three same-sex couples who were denied new birth certificates for their four adoptive children have asked the Virginia Supreme Court to review their case.

The request comes in the wake of a decision from a Richmond judge upholding the right of the Virginia Department of Vital Records to refuse to issue the birth certificates, according to a press release issued by the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia.

In January, Richmond Circuit Judge Randall G. Johnson ruled that the state is not required to issue new birth certificates for children born in Virginia, but adopted by gay and lesbian couples in other states.

Johnson said then that requiring the state to issue new birth certificates with the names of the children’s adoptive parents instead of their birth parents conflicts with Virginia’s policy prohibiting joint adoption by unmarried couples.

The case in question involves children born in Virginia, but adopted by gay and lesbian couples under laws in Maryland, New York and Pennsylvania, according to the ACLU.

“This should be a straightforward process in which the adoptive parents, regardless of their gender, fill out a simple form and obtain new birth certificates for their children,” ACLU executive director Kent Willis said in the release.