HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) – Figures show that the incidence of the venereal disease syphilis has increased in Connecticut in recent years, particularly among gay men.

Forty-five new cases of primary and secondary syphilis in Connecticut residents were reported to the state Department of Public Health in 2004, more than triple the number of cases reported just four years ago and 50 percent more than the year before.

Of those 45 new cases, 34 were gay men.

The disease is spreading quickly among gay suburban men because they’re having unprotected sex, said Heidi Jenkins, director of the state health department’s STD control program.

“It’s a great concern to us,” Jenkins said. “What we’re seeing with these cases are men with a lot of partners.”

If untreated, syphilis can result in mental illness, blindness, neurological problems, heart disease and death.

Federal experts say the situation in Connecticut mirrors a national trend.

Dr. Hillard Weinstock, a medical epidemiologist with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, helped conduct a national study tracking the percentage of gay men among new syphilis cases from 1999 to 2002.

The CDC found that gay men accounted for about 5 percent of new syphilis cases in 1999, and 47 percent three years later.

The rise of syphilis among gay men may indicate younger gays’ sense that HIV is no longer a serious threat, Weinstock said.

“There is a new generation that perhaps hasn’t seen friends die of the disease, and so perhaps they haven’t learned all the lessons of the 1980s,” Weinstock said.

WAILUKU, Hawaii (AP) – Objections from some parents led officials of a Maui high school to restrict the showing of a video about discrimination against gays and lesbians.

King Kekaulike High School had planned to show the 50-minute video this month to 9th-, 10th- and 11th-grade students. Area superintendent Kenneth Nomura said that after meeting with Principal Susan Scofield and some teachers, they decided to allow only students who had parental permission to view the video.

Students now must have a parent sign a permission slip to watch the video.

Nomura said the decision to show the video was based on a school board policy that calls for schools to present various viewpoints on controversial issues.

But about 30 parents objected after watching the video at the school library.

Ron Ark, grandfather of a student, said the majority of people attending the viewing were against showing the video because it portrayed Christians as being the “bad guys.”

He said the video wasn’t well-researched, and said, “They’re promoting their gay agenda.”

But Connie McAboy, whose 17-year-old son is gay, said the video was intended to help solve problems of harassment and physical abuse of GLBT students on campus.

Tony McAboy said the harassment problem is so bad that he has decided to get a GED rather than attend his senior year at the Pukalani school.

ROCKVILLE, Md. (AP) – Maryland’s largest school district is scrapping sex-education materials that have come under fire for implying that homosexuality is a biological trait and for demonstrating how to put on a condom.

The Montgomery County school board voted to rethink its curriculum weeks after a federal lawsuit was filed by two groups – including one based in Virginia – that said it didn’t do enough to stress abstinence or give opposing views on homosexuality.

Gone from the curriculum will be materials that imply homosexuality is a biological trait, excluding viewpoints of those who believe same-sex attraction can be overcome.

Also dropped was a seven-minute video that was to be shown to 10th-graders, in which a woman puts a condom on a cucumber to demonstrate its use.

The school system had planned to launch the pilot program for 8th- and 10th-graders on May 9, but suspended it for the rest of the school year after U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams issued a 10-day restraining order.

It was unclear how the board’s action will affect attempts to reach a settlement in the lawsuit brought by Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum and the Virginia-based Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays.

The district’s curriculum will be rewritten by professional educators and consultants, and a 27-member citizens advisory committee will help oversee the process. The board will consider the revisions next school year.

BOSTON (AP) – Half of Americans polled say they don’t want their states to recognize Massachusetts same-sex marriages and disapprove of same-sex couples getting married, according to a nationwide survey conducted by The Boston Globe.

According to the poll, 50 percent of Americans say Massachusetts same-sex marriages should not be recognized in their state, with 46 percent saying they should be recognized.

Massachusetts began granting same-sex marriage licenses in May 2004, six months after a landmark decision by the state Supreme Judicial Court declared the state could not bar same-sex couples from being married.

Among those polled, 50 percent said they disapproved of gay and lesbian couples getting married, while 37 percent said they approved and 11 percent said they were neutral on the issue.

But 46 percent said they backed civil unions that would provide same-sex couples with “some, but not all of the legal rights of married couples,” while 41 percent said they were opposed.

The poll of 760 randomly selected adults conducted May 4-9 by the University of New Hampshire Survey Center has a margin of error of 3.6 percent.

Americans older than 65, Republicans, Protestants, regular churchgoers and Southerners were more likely to oppose same-sex marriage, while those under 35, Democrats and people who do not attend worship services or attend sporadically were more likely to support it. Respondents in states won by President Bush in the 2004 election were more likely to be opposed to same-sex marriage, while those in states won by Sen. John Kerry were more likely to support it.

While 76 percent of those surveyed predicted that all or some states will eventually join Massachusetts in legalizing same-sex marriage, only 29 percent said the courts should decide, as they did in Massachusetts. The poll found 52 percent believe state legislatures should make that decision.

According to the poll, 79 percent said gays should be allowed to serve openly in the military.

TUPELO, Miss. (AP) – A conservative Christian group has ended its boycott of The Walt Disney Co., launched nine years ago in response to what leaders perceived as the erosion of the company’s squeaky clean image.

“There are so many other issues we need to move on to and deal with that are taking our time and energy,” American Family Association president Tim Wildmon wrote in a letter published on the group’s Web site.

“If you’re going to call for a boycott of a company – if something has become that serious – you need to have all your resources behind it.”

The boycott had a limited impact. Disney has reported higher earnings, citing increased attendance at its theme parks and strong performance from its film studio and ABC television network.

The Tupelo-based Christian group has protested Disney’s extension of benefits to domestic partners of gay and lesbian employees, promotion of gay-related events at its theme parks and violent and sex-filled content of movies made by its Miramax subsidiary.

Wildmon said the announcement is not an endorsement of Disney, just an end to the boycott “as a ministry agenda item.”

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – The Oklahoma House approved a $6.68 million budget for state libraries and vowed to study local library policies on the placement of gay-themed books on children’s shelves.

A member of the House subcommittee that handles funds for the state Department of Libraries, Rep. Sally Kern, R-Oklahoma City, had threatened to withhold extra funding for libraries over the issue of gay-themed books.

The chair of the committee, Rep. Tad Jones, R-Claremore, acknowledged the concerns and said more action would be taken on the issue next year.

Last month, the House passed a resolution urging library officials to restrict children’s access to books with gay themes.

Kern has asked the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Library Commission to place the book King and King and similar books in the adult section. She made the request after receiving complaints from two constituents who objected to the book’s content.

King and King is a children’s tale about a prince who shuns princesses in favor of another prince.

Jones said other libraries have reported they do not stock the books and that others, including those in Tulsa, had removed them. The Department of Libraries sends money to local libraries.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) – A state Senate bill that would establish civil unions for same-sex couples will move forward without its twin goal of prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation.

A coalition of Republican and Democratic senators is drafting a new civil unions bill and planning to hold a public hearing on the matter.

The bill will be identical to language within the established Senate Bill 1000, said Sen. Alan Bates, D-Ashland, a coalition member. It would insert the words “civil union” and “partners” alongside “marriage” and “husband and wife” in state law.

Gov. Ted Kulongoski began the session in January by appealing to lawmakers to outlaw discrimination against gays and lesbians in housing, employment and public services.

Kulongoski spokesperson Anna Richter Taylor said civil unions and anti-discrimination legislation remain priorities for the governor.

It’s uncertain whether a civil unions bill or a separate anti-discrimination measure can move through the Democratic Senate and the Republican-led House.

The Oregon Family Council, which publishes a Christian voters’ guide, has opposed civil unions and the anti-discrimination legislation. Separating the civil unions portion doesn’t “really change much,” said Tim Nashif, the council’s political director.