RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) – A candlelight ceremony was held in the parking lot of a gay bar to mark the second anniversary of the death of a man who was attacked outside the club.

About 50 people met behind The Menagerie to remember Jeffery Owens, who was stabbed June 5, 2002, just before midnight in a parking lot.

“Jeffery was the type of person who stands up for others who are being attacked,” said Michael Bussee, of Riverside, who tearfully told the crowd how Owens came to his defense the night of the assault.

“Out of the blue, I was punched and stabbed in the back,” Bussee said. “He confronted my attackers and for that he lost his life.”

Owens, 40, of Moreno Valley, and Bussee were taken by private car to a county hospital. Owens bled to death after receiving an overdose of the anti-clotting drug Heparin.

Three suspects in the attack have pleaded not guilty to criminal charges and face trial. Three others reached plea agreements and are serving sentences in state prison.

Witnesses to the stabbing called it a hate crime and said one attacker made derogatory comments about Owens’ sexuality. Prosecutors filed hate crime charges, but Judge Patrick Magers dismissed the hate-crime allegation.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Legal challenges across California asking whether the state Constitution permits same-sex marriages were consolidated into one case and will be tried in San Francisco, a state agency overseeing the courts has decided.

Gays and lesbians in Los Angeles and San Francisco, and opponents of same-sex marriage, have filed various lawsuits that were consolidated at the request of Attorney General Bill Lockyer, who has taken no position on the matter.

The Judicial Council ordered the cases tried as one in San Francisco Superior Court. But whatever is decided in that court will be reviewed by the California Supreme Court, which invited such challenges this spring. The seven justices are unlikely to get the case for at least a year.

The same-sex marriage dispute began in February when San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom permitted the city to issue same-sex marriage licenses. More than 4,000 were handed out before the California Supreme Court ordered a halt.

The justices are expected to rule this summer whether Newsom abused his office and issued the licenses in contravention of state law that says marriage is between a man and a woman.

During a hearing on that issue last month, the justices indicated that Newsom overstepped his powers. But that case has nothing to do with whether the state constitution allows same-sex couples to marry.

In the new cases consolidated as one for trial, proponents of same-sex marriage say the equal protection clause of the state constitution demands that same-sex couples be allowed to marry. Opponents say a voter-approved measure defines marriage as being between opposite sexes.

No trial date has been set.

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (AP) – The City Council has passed a resolution supporting the concept of same-sex marriages.

The 6-0 vote is strictly symbolic and doesn’t actually allow same-sex couples to marry in the county. Gay rights organizations and the local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union asked the council to take a stand on the issue.

“This is the first time we would actually amend the Constitution to reduce people’s rights, rather than enhance them,” Councilwoman Helene Schneider said.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – The Southern Baptist Convention voted down a controversial proposal that would have asked parents to pull their children from public schools in favor of religious education.

On the final day of the denomination’s annual meeting, some 8,500 church representatives also approved a call to amend the U.S. Constitution to bar same-sex marriage. The 16.3 million-member SBC is the United States’ largest Protestant body.

The same-sex marriage resolution passed without debate. It commended President George W. Bush, who spoke to the meeting, for supporting a proposed federal marriage amendment.

The text said “the union of one man and one woman is the only form of marriage prescribed in the Bible as God’s perfect design” and “this traditional family is the fabric of all social order and the foundational institution that builds and maintains strong societies.”

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) – Chief Justice Jeffrey Amestoy, author of the historic 1999 ruling on gay rights that led to the creation of civil unions in the state, is resigning.

Amestoy, 57, has served as chief justice of the Supreme Court since 1997.

The chief justice, who served as attorney general for 12 years before being appointed to the court, told Gov. Jim Douglas of his decision to resign. He later told his colleagues on the court.

Amestoy will step down in August.

Amestoy, a Republican, has worked in state government for 30 years, serving as an assistant attorney general and commissioner of Labor and Industry before winning election as attorney general in 1984. He was appointed chief justice by then-Gov. Howard Dean, a Democrat.

His tenure was marked by the court’s decision to extend to gays and lesbians the rights and benefits of marriage. Amestoy wrote the opinion, which led the 2000 Legislature to enact civil unions.

In his decision Amestoy said extension of benefits to acknowledge gays and lesbians “as Vermonters who seek nothing more, nor less, than legal protection and security for their avowed commitment to an intimate and lasting human relationship is simply, when all is said and done, a recognition of our common humanity.”

NEW YORK MILLS, Minn. (AP) – A New York man who argued in favor of same-sex marriages has won the Great American Think-Off.

“I feel that same-sex marriages should be allowed because we all benefit when no one is excluded,” said Robert Lerose, 44, a writer from Uniondale, N.Y.

In addition, he said, that when same-sex couples are allowed to marry “they will only strengthen the bonds between themselves and their communities and that can only be good for our country.”

Lerose won the title of America’s Greatest Thinker and $500 when an audience of about 400 chose his argument over three others, including two who argued against same-sex marriage and another contestant who also spoke in favor it.

The other finalists were: Jim Schantz, 68, a retiree from Luxemburg, Wis., and Sonja Hathaway, 20, a student from Grand Forks, N.D., who argued against and Christy Hicks, 34, an educator from Ferndale, Mich., who said the unions should be allowed.

TULSA, Okla. (AP) – About a month after a lesbian couple filed for a tribal marriage application, the Cherokee National Tribal Council voted to clearly define marriage as between a man and a woman.

Principal Chief Chad Smith has indicated he will sign the measure, which was approved by the council June 14.

The change to a tribal marriage law that the lesbian couple said was gender neutral would not affect Kathy Reynolds and Dawn McKinley, who were married last month in a Cherokee ceremony. Cherokee Nation laws are not retroactive.

A Cherokee Nation District Court has scheduled a hearing to discuss a legal protest of McKinley’s and Reynolds’ marriage application. The outcome of that hearing will determine whether the Owasso couple’s union is legal.

The measure was not listed on the June 14 council agenda, drawing some criticism. But Councilor Linda Hughes O’Leary defended the move, saying the matter was of urgent importance.

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) – A county judge threw out part of a city ordinance that bans discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Lehigh County Judge Alan M. Black acknowledged that many private employers and government agencies prohibit discrimination based on sexual identity.

“However, it is not for this court to decide whether such legislation is desirable or beneficial or in the public interest,” Black wrote.

Allentown’s Home Rule Act prevents city officials from ordering employers, businesses and others to avoid such discrimination, Black said.

“It’s a complete victory,” said lawyer Randall L. Wenger, who challenged the ordinance on behalf of four landlords. “It allows them to exercise their religious conscience in the way that they see fit.”

Allentown in 2002 amended its Human Relations Commission act – a law that prohibited employment and housing discrimination based on such things as race, religion or country of origin – to include sexual orientation and gender identity. Similar laws exist in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Erie, New Hope, Lancaster, York and Harrisburg.