TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) – A new health resort and spa to open in Tucson later this year appears to be among the first in the nation dedicated to gay and lesbian tourists.

The Coyote Moon Health Resort and Spa, which will be in a facility that previously was a guest ranch, will include typical spa services but will also feature nightly lectures tailored to the GLBT community and the total acceptance of same-sex couples, said owner Joe Studer.

“Coyote Moon will offer the comfort and serenity that you can hold hands at the pool and not feel uncomfortable,” Studer said.

Kent Burbank, executive director of Wingspan, a southern Arizona GLBT community center, said members of the community often feel uncomfortable at traditional resorts.

“It’s nice to go to a place and not have to constantly censor yourself,” Burbank said. “We’re really very, very pleased that it is opening in Tucson. I think it’s much needed.”

There are numerous gay-oriented resorts and gay cruise lines, and GLBT groups sometimes take over resorts for a week, said Tom Roth, president of Community Marketing, a San Francisco-based gay and lesbian market research and communications firm.

“But there are no spas dedicated to the health and well-being of gays,” Roth said. “There’s nothing like it in the world.”

Matthew Skallerud, vice president of the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association, agreed.

He said he’s seen other vacation-oriented resorts catering to the GLBT community but not health-oriented resorts.

Coyote Moon will have 16 rooms when it opens in November.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) – Television ads claim Republican Senate candidate Peter Coors is promoting “homosexual causes,” escalating the increasingly bitter primary battle between him and former Rep. Bob Schaffer.

The Coors campaign said the commercials amount to an illegal “soft money” contribution because the group sponsoring the ads has ties to the Schaffer campaign. Schaffer’s campaign denied the charge, saying any formal links were broken last month.

Same-sex marriage and same-sex partner benefits have become an issue in the primary campaign as Coors and Schaffer battle for support from the GOP’s conservative core.

As an executive of his family’s brewing company, Coors backed benefits for gay and lesbian workers and promoted beer in gay bars, while as a candidate he endorsed a constitutional ban on same-sex marriages.

Schaffer also supported the constitutional amendment.

The ads, which ran in Colorado Springs and Grand Junction, were paid for by the group Colorado Conservative Voters, whose president, former Sen. Bill Armstrong, has endorsed Schaffer.

The Coors campaign filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission and asked Comcast Cable to stop running the ads. Coors campaign officials said Armstrong is a member of Schaffer’s campaign, which would make the ads an illegal campaign contribution.

Armstrong said the ads were legal and fair. “We have been very careful to scrupulously abide by all the rules,” he said.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A former Perry High School student was awarded $27,500 for a lawsuit claiming he was discriminated against based on his perceived sexual orientation.

Tyler Rothmeyer, 18, filed the lawsuit under “John Doe” in March 2004 against the Perry Community School District, the city of Perry and one of the city’s police officers. The school district was ordered to pay Rothmeyer $20,000 and the police officer, who was the student resource officer at the high school at the time of the incident, was ordered to pay Rothmeyer $7,500, the US District Court for the Southern District ruled.

Rothmeyer claimed he was wrongfully suspended from school and was falsely arrested when he defended himself against a fellow student who was threatening him and demeaning him with hate-based epithets.

“Tyler Rothmeyer is not the first, and unfortunately will not be the last student to face anti-gay harassment,” said Robert Montgomery, Rothermeyer’s attorney. “This judgment shows that school districts can incur liability if they fail to protect students from bullying and harassment because of the student’s real or perceived sexual orientation.”

Randy McCaulley, Perry Community Schools superintendent, said in a news release that the district handled its responsibilities correctly and took appropriate actions regarding the student.

“We absolutely deny any wrongdoing on our part and this settlement represents only the effort of the insurance company to resolve the matter,” McCaulley said. “We also believe that Perry High School, and all of our schools, have safe and healthy school climates.”

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) – A judge threw out charges against two Unitarian Universalist ministers for officiating at the weddings of 13 same-sex couples.

New Paltz Town Justice Judith Reichler dismissed the charges against the Revs. Kay Greenleaf and Dawn Sangrey, declaring that the state had displayed an anti-gay bias and sharply questioning the constitutionality of its same-sex marriage ban.

“There can be no constitutional rationale for denying same-sex couples the right to receive the benefits that are so lavishly bestowed on mixed-sex couples,” she wrote.

Greenleaf and Sangrey, both in their 60s, were charged in March with officiating at weddings in which the couple had no valid marriage license.

The two women were believed to be the first members of the clergy prosecuted in the United States for marrying same-sex couples.

Ulster County Assistant District Attorney John Rusk had argued that the case was not about the constitutional rights of gay and lesbian couples but simply about whether the ministers violated state law by marrying couples who did not have marriage licenses.

But Reichler said the two issues are “inextricably intertwined” and ruled the charges were invalid.

Reichler rejected the state’s reasoning that tradition and procreation justified restricting marriage to opposite-sex couples.

“Tradition does not justify unconstitutional treatment. Slavery was also a traditional institution,” she wrote.

And, since elderly and infertile couples are allowed to marry, Reichler ruled that procreation cannot be used as grounds to stop same-sex unions.

Last month, another judge dismissed the same criminal charges against New Paltz Mayor Jason West, saying the state failed to show it has a legitimate interest in banning same-sex weddings.

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Ohio State University’s Board of Trustees has extended full benefits to same-sex domestic partners of faculty and staff members and their children.

Ohio State Executive Vice President Barbra Snyder said she expects 50 to 100 people to take advantage of the benefits, which include medical, dental and vision plans. The university will pay 85 percent of the cost, as it does for other university employees.

“It was a brave step. Whether or not you are in favor of gay rights, this is great for the university,” said Douglas J. Whaley, an OSU law professor and gay-rights activist.

Students and their same-sex domestic partners, as well as their children, also will be eligible for coverage. The university will not pay for that coverage.

In late June, Miami University and Ohio University became the state’s first public colleges to offer full health benefits to domestic partners. Since then, Cleveland State University has announced plans to add domestic-partner benefits.

Snyder said the move was necessary to keep Ohio State competitive with other schools.

BEND, Ore. (AP) – Jefferson County commissioners are considering whether to offer benefits to the partners of unmarried heterosexual employees, a topic that could spark heated debate in the Central Oregon county.

Under current policy, the county – like others in Oregon – offers benefits to husbands and wives of heterosexual employees and to the partners of gay and lesbian employees. They’ve been required to do so since 1998, when the Oregon Supreme Court ruled that it was illegal to deny benefits to gay and lesbian unmarried partners.

Jefferson County counsel Jacki Haggerty said she thinks the same clause that makes it illegal to deny benefits to same-sex partners would likely do the same for heterosexuals.

“I think we’re begging for trouble if we treat [heterosexuals] differently,” she told The Bulletin in Bend.

Jefferson County commissioners said they were concerned that it would be difficult to define who’s a couple and who isn’t if they decide to extend benefits.

Under the guidelines for the Association of Oregon Counties’ health plan, domestic partners must share the same permanent residence, split living expenses, and not have had another domestic partner in the last six months.

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) – The Spokane School Board has declined to approve teaching materials on homosexuality and homophobia after parents complained that they were inaccurate and constituted propaganda.

A 25-minute videotape, Being Gay: Coming Out in the 21st Century, and a four-page booklet to go with it called “Dealing with Homophobia”, were recommended for use in ninth-grade health classes.

After the five-member board’s 2-2 vote, Superintendent Brian Benzel urged administrators to continue searching for educational materials to address sexual-orientation issues. The fifth board member was not at the meeting, and could break the deadlock at a subsequent session.

A dozen people addressed the board, saying they were concerned and offended by the proposed classroom materials, which had been recommended by a committee of teachers and administrators, a 14-person citizens advisory committee and a group of principals.

While some saw the materials as informative and educational, others labeled them “homosexual propaganda.”

Had the materials been approved, parents would have the right to preview them and excuse their child from class when they were used.

Scott Stowell, the district’s coordinator of science, health and human growth and development, said he searched a long time for appropriate resource materials regarding sexual orientation.

“Students need medically accurate information,” he said, adding that he considered the video and booklet balanced and accurate.