BAY MINETTE, Ala. (AP) – A defense lawyer for Robert Porter sought a gag order in his capital murder case after other attorneys said Porter was anti-gay and apparently killed an 18-year-old in a robbery because the victim was gay.

Porter attorney William Pfeifer of Foley said the claims made by a lawyer for another defendant in the case were “inaccurate and misleading.”

Scotty Joe Weaver, 18, was strangled, beaten and stabbed July 18, with his body hauled to woods and set ablaze. Porter, also 18, is being held along with Christopher Ryan Gaines, 20, and Gaines’ girlfriend, Nichole Kelsay, 18, on capital murder charges in the death.

Authorities said the three were unemployed and had been living in Weaver’s trailer at Bay Minette but turned on him July 18, robbing him of $80 and killing him. Weaver had been trying to get the three to leave because they were stealing from him and didn’t help pay rent, investigators said.

Weaver was killed “because of his sexual orientation,” said Rusty Pigott, a lawyer for Gaines. Pigott said Porter “spoke openly of wanting to kill the guy because he was gay.”

Baldwin County District Attorney David Whetstone also said part of the motive was the victim’s “lifestyle.”

A date has not been set. Whetstone said he hopes a gag order isn’t granted.

Alabama’s hate crime statute does not cover sexual orientation, but it still may determine whether prosecutors seek the death penalty, Whetstone said.

Pigott said his client did not kill or rob Weaver and that Porter “made no attempt to hide his aversion to homosexuals and had been known to brag about assaulting homosexuals.” He said Porter had attempted to hit Weaver in a parking lot two days before the killing.

“Although the principal motive appears to be hate-related, that does not rule out the robbery aspect of this case,” the lawyer said. “It is clear that Mr. Porter took the money. Whether that factored into his decision to murder Mr. Weaver has yet to be determined.”

Weaver’s burned body was found July 22 in woods about eight miles from his mobile home.

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. (AP) – City commissioners unanimously approved an expansive domestic partnership registry giving couples rights to hospital visitations, health care decisions and emergency medical notification.

The registry will be open to Miami Beach residents and visitors, heterosexual and same-sex couples. The city will also recognize couples who have registered in other states, participated in a civil union or have been married.

“This is now the strongest domestic partnership registry in our state and it is a registry open to all people no matter where you live,” said Stratton Pollitzer, the South Florida director of Equality Florida.

The registry offers about 12 benefits, including the power to make funeral decisions and the right to participate in the education of a partner’s child.

Marriage provides an average of 1,600 rights, according to the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

Miami Beach institutions affected by the ordinance said it was too soon to comment on how it will work.

Broward County and Key West also offer domestic partner registries, but they are more limited.

The Miami Beach commission also recently approved expanding the city’s human rights ordinance to ban discrimination against transgender people.

SUMMIT, Ky. (AP) – A civil rights advocacy group is monitoring an eastern Kentucky school system to see if students are getting anti-harassment training.

The American Civil Liberties Union wants to ensure students at Boyd County middle and high schools are getting mandatory training under the terms of a court order, said Chris Hampton, spokeswoman for the ACLU’s Lesbian and Gay Rights Project.

The order was part of a February settlement of a lawsuit against the district by a gay-awareness club at Boyd County High School.

Some parents have said they will take their children out of school on the day of the training.

The worst consequence for students who don’t go to school for the training would be an unexcused absence, Superintendent Bill Capehart said.

There is no specific number of absences that would trigger action by the ACLU, Hampton said, but added that the district should have some mechanism for makeup sessions.

Teachers and staff throughout the district have already taken the anti-harassment training.

Students first petitioned to form a club at Boyd County High School in October 2002, saying that gay students at the high school had been subjected to threats and harassment and the club was needed to foster tolerance and understanding.

The school district denied their request and the Gay-Straight Alliance filed suit. The group accused the district of violating the constitutional rights of its members by denying them the privilege to meet.

Part of the settlement also required the board to allow the students to meet.

BALTIMORE (AP) – The Republican Circuit Court clerk in Anne Arundel County filed a motion to be named as a defendant in the American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit for same-sex marriage rights in Maryland.

Robert P. Duckworth, who is also a candidate for the state’s third congressional district, said he wants to be named in the case to argue against same-sex marriage because the change would make it hard for him to do his job.

“If the law changes, it puts me in a very difficult position regarding my beliefs on marriage,” Duckworth said. “I’ve married thousands of couples, and I wouldn’t look forward to a change in the law if it were to allow same-sex couples.”

Duckworth began campaigning last fall for the congressional seat held by Democratic Rep. Benjamin Cardin, but he said that he did not want the same-sex marriage debate to define the race.

“I look at this as a matter that affects me as a clerk of the court,” he said.

Cardin said he would advocate for civil unions rather than same-sex marriage.

“I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman, but I am opposed to any type of discrimination,” Cardin said.

Cardin said he opposes efforts in Congress to limit the judicial reviews on the issue because, “If we had that during Brown v. the Board of Education we would never have integrated our schools.”

Duckworth said he wants the ACLU lawsuit dismissed because the matter should be decided by the states and the public rather than the courts.

“I understand the rights part,” he said, adding that Maryland law could be changed in other ways. “Marriage is not a bundle of contract rights. Marriage is a fundamental building block of society designed to bring a man and woman together.”

He said he does not support the federal amendment that would define marriage as between a man and a woman in the U.S. Constitution.

“I think marriage law belongs at the state level,” he said.

BOSTON (AP) – Former state Sen. Cheryl Jacques, now a national gay rights leader, married her longtime partner in a private ceremony at Boston’s Ritz-Carlton hotel, four days after she addressed the Democratic National Convention calling for “marriage equality.”

Jacques and Jennifer Chrisler have two-year-old twin boys, Tommy and Timmy.

Jacques, of Needham, left the state Senate in January after 12 years in office to take over as president of the Human Rights Campaign, a Washington, D.C.-based gay rights group.

She and Chrisler remain residents of Massachusetts and therefore could legally wed here under the state’s November high court decision, which legalized same-sex marriage as of May 17. Gov. Mitt Romney has said that the case only applies to in-state residents, citing a 1913 law barring the recognition of marriages that would not be legal in a couple’s home state.

Jacques has become a prominent national figure in the ongoing same-sex marriage debate, which has become an issue in the presidential campaign.

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) – A lesbian couple in Eugene have filed a lawsuit against a Catholic school after officials there declined to admit their daughter.

Lee Inkmann, along with her partner, Trish Wilson, says the denial came because they are gay. They are seeking up to $550,000 in damages on behalf of their daughter.

The couple’s attorney, Martha Walters, said she thinks the private school meets the definition of a place of public accommodation. That makes it subject to Eugene’s city code, which forbids discrimination based on sex, marital status, domestic partnership status or sexual orientation, she argues.

The suit named O’Hara Catholic school, Principal Dianne Bert, St. Mary Catholic Church and the Rev. Mark Bachmeier.

Bachmeier couldn’t be reached for comment, and Bert referred questions to the archdiocese. In a prepared statement, spokesperson Bud Bunce said the archdiocese plans a vigorous defense.

“O’Hara Catholic school and the Archdiocese of Portland do not discuss publicly details concerning school admissions of any particular child,” he said. “However, it is believed that this situation was handled appropriately. The lawsuit filed includes numerous false statements of fact, and is believed to be totally without merit.”

According to the suit, Inkmann told the principal about her domestic partner after a school tour last winter. A couple of weeks later, Bert informed her that the school wouldn’t enroll the girl, now 5, because her parents’ relationship was opposed to Vatican teachings, and would be confusing for other students and their parents, the suit alleges.

Bachmeier later told Inkmann that the decision wasn’t about “the gay issue,” but rather about whether the girl was “behaviorally suitable” for the school, the suit alleges.