BOSTON (AP) – State Sen. Jarrett Barrios, who made an impassioned personal plea for same-sex marriage during last spring’s legislative debate, has exchanged vows with his longtime partner, Doug Hattaway, a former spokesperson for Vice President Al Gore.

The couple of 10 years married at First Parish Church in Cambridge, in a wedding attended by an array of state and city officials. Same-sex marriage became legal in Massachusetts May 17 under a court decision issued last November.

In February, during a marathon legislative debate about whether to seek a ban on same-sex marriage in Massachusetts, Barrios spoke of the barriers and confusion he faced when he took one of their two adopted sons to the emergency room. Hospital records listed Hattaway as the parent and the nurse balked when Barrios could not prove a legal relationship to his son or partner.

“I admit I was a new parent, and I thought as many new parents that he could die on my watch while I was fighting with a nurse over whether I was his parent or not,” Barrios, a Cambridge Democrat, told his colleagues.

The Legislature ultimately gave preliminary approval to a constitutional amendment that would ban same-sex marriage but legalize civil unions if approved again during the next legislative session and by voters in November 2006.

Ironically, one of the sponsors of the anti-marriage amendment, Senate President Robert Travaglini, D-Boston, toasted Barrios and Hattaway at their reception. Spokesperson Ann Dufresne said that this was not an indication that Travaglini was backing away from the marriage ban.

NEW YORK (AP) – Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that he will direct his appointees on the city’s pension fund boards to treat city employees in same-sex marriages the same way as those in traditional marriages.

Bloomberg’s decision, based on a legal opinion by the city Law Department, makes no immediate changes. It is unclear how many people would be affected.

If the idea is approved by the city’s five pension fund boards, same-sex couples who are legally married or involved in a civil union with a city employee would receive pension benefits – including, for instance, accidental death benefits.

The mayor does not have a majority of appointees on any of the boards, which cover pension plans for police, teachers and other city employees.

Those eligible would include people in same-sex marriages and civil unions that have been recently sanctioned in Massachusetts, Vermont and several Canadian provinces, among other places.

New York State, however, does not officially recognize same-sex marriage and state law prohibits pension benefits from being awarded to couples in city-sanctioned domestic partnerships.

State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer has ruled that though same-sex marriages could not be legally performed in New York, the state must recognize those performed legally elsewhere.

The state does allow employees to make same-sex partners their pension beneficiaries. A decision by state Comptroller Alan Hevesi in October allowed married same-sex couples to receive automatic cost-of-living increases and accidental death benefits for survivors.

Bloomberg said that he supports a change in state law that would allow couples in domestic partnerships to be eligible for pension benefits.

“All our city employees deserve to be treated equally, regardless of their sexual orientation, and I hope these measures will ensure that they are,” he said in a statement.

Bloomberg has said that he goes “back and forth” on whether same-sex marriages should be allowed, but believes that civil unions for same-sex couples should confer the same legal rights as marriage.

It was not immediately clear when the pension boards – which are also comprised of representatives of city unions – would take up the issue.

NEW PALTZ, N.Y. (AP) – Mad magazine is declaring that Jason West’s 15 minutes of fame are over.

The New Paltz mayor, who’s been in the headlines repeatedly since marrying more than two-dozen same-sex couples in February, is included in Mad’s December issue, featuring the “latest batch of has-beens.”

West joins the likes of Scott Peterson’s former mistress Amber Frey, and Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Smarty Jones.

“I’m glad to hear about it,” West said. “If my celebrityhood is over, that means I can get back to my real life.”

Over the past few months, West has graced the pages of People magazine in its June list of most eligible bachelors. He was also profiled in the New York Times and appeared on Conan O’Brien’s late-night television show.

A Green Party member, West was charged with numerous misdemeanors relating to the same-sex weddings. A judge later dismissed the criminal charges against him.

TULSA, Okla. (AP) – Some AIDS activists are worried that an end of state support to as many as 28 HIV testing clinics will mean fewer people are tested for the virus which causes AIDS.

The Oklahoma State Department of Health said it will no longer give testing supplies or laboratory services to clinics that do not have a state contract. The move is part of an effort to meet new federal guidelines and to clean up years of inconsistent record keeping, the department said.

“There are a lot of people infected [with HIV] who haven’t been tested,” said Janice Nichols of the AIDS Coalition of Tulsa.

“By shutting down these test sites and limiting the number of places where people can get tested, I am worried we will see a decline in testing.”

The health department will continue to provide support to five HIV testing clinics: three in Oklahoma City and two in Tulsa.

Clinics losing state support include four each in the Oklahoma City and Tulsa metro areas and clinics in Tahlequah, Idabel, Hugo, Durant, Madill, Muskogee, Mangum and Weatherford.

Bill Pierson, the Health Department’s chief of HIV/sexually transmitted disease services, said his department is withdrawing support from agencies with which it does not have contracts to meet funding guidelines set by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“We know who our contractors are, and we know exactly what they do. The rest was just kind of a wild card,” Pierson said.

The department is not closing any testing sites and individual agencies will decide whether they continue testing, he said.

Representatives from several of the affected agencies said they were seeking other sources of funding or were working to partner with testing sites that continue to receive state support.

Some of the agencies said they may have to begin charging for HIV tests that were free. The tests cost about $30 each.

CINCINNATI (AP) – City tourism officials are targeting groups that had previously taken their convention business elsewhere because of a charter provision banning laws protecting GLBT people from discrimination.

Cincinnatians voted to repeal the 11-year-old Article XII in November after city and business leaders warned that it was harming the city’s economy.

The Greater Cincinnati Convention and Visitors Bureau sent letters to 200 groups that cited gay rights issues as a reason for not hosting meetings in Cincinnati.

And bureau representatives are considering meeting with eight groups that canceled scheduled events in Cincinnati after voters approved the amendment in 1993. Those conventions had been expected to bring $25 million to the area.

“We’ll follow up with every group that canceled,” said Alan Welch, interim bureau president.

The impact on the convention business may not be immediate, because some of the groups targeted by the bureau are locked into deals to hold conventions in other cities through 2010.

But some groups say repealing the amendment could be the first step toward bringing their business back.

The Rockville, Md.-based American Speech-Language-Hearing Association canceled its 1995 convention in Cincinnati because of the charter provision. The group wrote a letter at the time that said the amendment “sends the message that some of our members will not be welcome in Cincinnati.”

Now Cheryl Russell, director of convention and meetings for the group, said it would consider Cincinnati for its regional meetings.

The American Library Association pulled out of a scheduled January 1995 convention, saying it wanted to take a “stand on human rights.”

GREENSBURG, Pa. (AP) – A woman allegedly fixated on a former cheerleader for 13 years must stand trial on charges that include identity theft and trespassing in a cheerleaders’ locker room, a judge ruled.

Kelly Dawn Hullenbaugh – a 48-year-old cross-dresser formerly known as Robert Domasky – entered the Greensburg Salem High School locker room on Sept. 3, claiming she was a cheerleading coach who had come to learn new routines, authorities said.

Police believe she has stolen the identities of several women, including former cheerleader Kelly Dawn Hullenbaugh, on whom she had become fixated. She has since been married, divorced and is now known as Kelly Hullenbaugh Stein.

Hullenbaugh Stein testified at a preliminary hearing that she has been stalked and had her identity misused for years.

Greensburg patrolperson John Swank testified that the suspect told him she considers herself a lesbian woman, and is sexually attracted to women.

Hullenbaugh was also held for trial on charges of stalking, forgery, fraud and tampering with public records.

She remains in the Westmoreland County jail.

WASHINGTON (AP) – The House commended the Boy Scouts and condemned legal efforts to limit government ties to the group because of its requirement that members believe in God.

A nonbinding resolution, passed by a 391-3 vote, recognized the 3.2 million-member Boy Scouts for its public service efforts. But the main thrust of the debate was what the House Judiciary Committee chair, Rep. James Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican, said were the “strident legal attacks” on the group.

The Pentagon agreed to tell U.S. military bases around the world not to directly sponsor Boy Scout troops. The warning resulted from legal challenges to government relations with a group that bans openly gay leaders and compels members to swear an oath of duty to God.

The American Civil Liberties Union and others say that direct government sponsorship of such a program amounts to discrimination.

The Pentagon’s ruling does not prevent service members from leading Boy Scout troops on their own time. Also, Boy Scouts still can meet on areas of military bases where civilian organizations are allowed to hold events.

Republican Rep. J.D. Hayworth of Arizona said the ACLU’s challenge was a “nuisance lawsuit” and he was urging Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to reconsider the Pentagon’s position.

“Scouting values, military values, citizenship values, a respect and reverence for a creator are not a violation of the doctrine of church and state,” Hayworth said.