FORTUNA, Calif. (AP) – Two Fortuna women have sued their employer for discrimination, claiming they were fired from an assisted living facility after a manager learned they were a lesbian couple.

Barbara McNaughton, 50, and Brenda Dapkus, 38, have filed suit against Sunwest Management, the Salem, Ore.-based company that owns Sequoia Springs Assisted Living in Fortuna, about 20 miles south of Eureka.

The couple moved to Fortuna to work at Sequoia Springs in January 2003. McNaughton was an administrator who supervised about 30 employees; Dapkus was an activities director and later a marketer for the facility.

The two women say they received good evaluations, and even company awards, for their work for a year and a half before they were fired in July.

Sunwest Management wouldn’t comment on the case because it’s in litigation, said Wally Gutzler, an attorney for the company.

McNaughton said she had a good working relationship with the regional manager who hired her, but things changed dramatically when another manager came in and learned she and Dapkus were a couple.

In July, McNaughton and Dapkus were told they were being fired for poor performance.

The couple filed a complaint with the California Department of Fair Housing and Employment alleging discrimination based on sexual orientation, which is illegal in California. A state investigator is looking into the case.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – A rare and potentially serious sexually transmitted disease has turned up in a few patients in San Francisco, prompting health officials to issue a public warning.

The disease is called lymphogranuloma venereum, or LGV. It’s a form of chlamydia, a common sexually transmitted infection, but LGV can cause scarring of the genitals and colon and cause lymph glands near the groin to swell or burst.

While the illness is rarely seen outside of poor, tropical nations, it has recently turned up in the Netherlands. Doctors in Rotterdam reported 92 cases among gay men there during a 17-month period ending in September. A few cases have also been reported in Belgium, France, Sweden and Atlanta.

Four patients, all gay men, have been treated for LGV in San Francisco so far, and none had traveled to the Netherlands. For that reason, health officials believe there may be other cases in the city that have not yet been detected.

Some of the men diagnosed with the illness have also tested positive for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Sam Mitchell, an epidemiologist at the Department of Public Health, said there is no indication that HIV-positive patients were at higher risk for complications of LGV, but there is concern that a patient with LGV might be more prone to contract HIV because of the ulceration caused by the bacteria.

Health officials said the illness is easily treatable if caught in time.

“The idea is to knock it out quickly. If it circulates widely, it could be quite challenging,” Mitchell said.

Patients with LGV typically undergo a three-week course of antibiotics, instead of the single dose used to treat common strains of chlamydia. Mitchell said the city is recommending that doctors treat all cases of rectal chlamydia with the three-week regimen.

“We think doctors should err on the side of caution,” he said.

SACRAMENTO (AP) – A California appeals court denied an effort by Christian activists to prevent a law that will grant same-sex couples nearly all the rights and responsibilities as marriage from taking effect on Jan. 1.

The California Court of Appeal for the Third District rejected the groups’ request for an emergency stay, but is allowing the legal challenges to the law itself to move forward.

The groups, the Campaign for California Families and the Proposition 22 Legal Defense and Education Fund, are appealing a September ruling by a Superior Court judge in Sacramento that held that the new law doesn’t violate a voter-approved measure that holds the state can only recognize marriages between a man and a woman.

The court said it wanted briefs from the groups, as well as from the state attorney general and gay rights advocates who are fighting to uphold the law, in January.

When the new law takes effect, same-sex couples who register as domestic partners in California will have the same spousal benefits as married couples in California except for the ability to file joint income taxes. That includes access to divorce courts, automatic parental status and responsibility for each other’s debts.

“We’re grateful that the law will go fully into effect on January 1, 2005 and tens of thousands of California families will begin to enjoy the protections provided by AB 205,” said Geoffrey Kors, executive director of Equality California, a gay rights lobbying group. “AB 205 is a big step in the right direction, but lesbian and gay Californians will only have true quality once the state allows same-sex couples to marry.”

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) – A mother who said her children were taken away from her because she’s gay has regained custody after a state appeals court reversed a previous order by a juvenile court judge.

In a unanimous opinion, the appeals court panel wrote that although the judge listed Amber Crosby’s “lifestyle” as a reason why she was an unfit mother, he had no evidence that was true.

Judge Herbert Kernaghan Jr. had signed an order Feb. 5 to remove Crosby’s two children, ages four and six, from her custody. Crosby’s grandparents were granted custody of one child, while the other went to the child’s biological father.

Kernaghan made the decision based on allegations by the Richmond County Department of Family and Children Services that Crosby’s domestic partner beat her in front of the children and that the couple took drugs in front of them.

However, the DFCS attorney did not call any witnesses or present any compelling evidence to support the charges, the appeals court said.

DFCS “made no effort whatsoever to demonstrate that the children are deprived, much less that such deprivation results from the mother’s lifestyle,” the ruling stated.

Beth Littrell, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union who helped with Crosby’s appeal, said they were pleased with the outcome of the case.

Russ Willard, a spokesperson for the state Attorney General’s Office, which represented the state, said that his office had just received a copy of the appeal decision and would be discussing it with DFCS.

“It’s doubtful the state would have any grounds to appeal,” Willard said.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – The Portland City Council has approved a $150,000 settlement with a former housing supervisor who filed a federal lawsuit claiming she faced discrimination and a hostile work environment because she is a lesbian.

Loraine Fischer, 56, was hired by the city Bureau of Development Services as a housing inspector in April 1995. She alleged that the hostile work environment began in 1997.

Fischer claimed she was subjected to discrimination and retaliation that included dismissal of her complaints, verbal and physical harassment, intimidation, bullying, ostracism and profane references to her sexual orientation.

She said in her lawsuit that her “presentation does not conform to traditional female stereotypes” because she does not wear feminine clothes, avoids makeup, has a short hairstyle and “approaches males as equal which is not acceptable to … co-workers and supervisors.”

City attorneys countered that Fischer caused problems for herself by “harassment of co-workers and personality conflicts with them.” They noted that investigation of Fischer’s complaints found insufficient evidence to support any of her charges.

Her complaint sought more than $250,000 in damages, medical expenses and back pay.

The city noted in the settlement, which also ends Fischer’s employment, that there is a risk the city could be found liable on one or more of the claims.

“This was a problem we inherited,” said Ty Kovatch, interim director of the Development Services Bureau and chief of staff to Commissioner Randy Leonard, who has overseen the bureau since 2003. “This was the solution that came to us to at the advice of the city attorney.”

The settlement was approved when commissioners voted on multiple city council agenda items without discussion.

CLEBURNE, Texas (AP) – Three teens accused of kicking and punching a Cleburne High School senior at a party in October while making slurs about homosexuals have been indicted on hate-crime charges.

A Johnson County grand jury returned an aggravated-assault indictment against Christopher Lathers, 18. Aggravated assault is a second-degree felony that was elevated to a first-degree felony when the hate-crime element was added.

Cory Gibson, 17, and Billy Calahan, 19, were indicted on misdemeanor assault charges, which were elevated to Class A misdemeanors with the hate-crime element.

Johnson County District Attorney Dale Hanna said Lathers inflicted the most serious injuries by kicking the 17-year-old victim with steel-toed boots. The victim had to have reconstructive surgery to repair broken bones in his face.

Cleburne school officials say Lathers attended TEAM School, the district’s alternative school for students who are academically behind. Gibson and Calahan were not enrolled in Cleburne schools, they said.