SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – The owner of a gay bar accused of racial discrimination agreed July 3 to mediation to settle the dispute.

Les Natali, owner of the S.F. Badlands bar in the Castro district, has said all the allegations stem from misperceptions and misunderstandings.

The city’s Human Rights Commission determined 13 complaints were valid from eight complainants who said they had been barred from patronizing or working at the bar because they are African-American.

Natali has agreed to allow former mayor Willie Brown and attorney Scott Emblidge to mediate the dispute.

Julius Turman, lawyer for the complainants, said he would recommend that his clients accept Brown and Emblidge as mediators.

Protesters with the anti-discrimination group And Castro for All have picketed the bar weekly since April.

GOLDEN, Colo. (AP) – A teacher who claimed she was targeted for being gay has been fired for what the school board said was demeaning and intimidating behavior toward students and parents.

Susan Romeo, a teacher for gifted and talented children at Coronado Elementary School, was suspended in October when the school district began investing allegations against her.

The Jefferson County School board voted unanimously June 30 to dismiss Romeo for allegedly bullying students, harassing parents and lacking sexual boundaries, which included leaning over to expose her breasts to a student.

Romeo said she has not decided what she will do next. William J. Maikovich, her lawyer, said Romeo could appeal the decision to the Court of Appeals or file suit against the Jefferson County School District.

Romeo said in January that parents who opposed her because of her sexual orientation had been meeting as a group for several years, sometimes with administrators. She never told students she was a lesbian, she said, but she had disclosed the information to a parent who asked about it.

Nancy Connick, a hearing officer who took testimony from parents, students and district representatives in May and June, said the district failed to prove Romeo was sexually inappropriate with students. But she said Romeo should be fired because of her harsh and intimidating attitude toward some students.

District Superintendent Cindy Stevenson also recommended in March to the board that Romeo be fired.

ELIZABETHTOWN, Ky. (AP) – A new congregation will meet after some former members of Christ Church decided to leave partly over the way the Episcopal Church is dealing with gays.

Holy Apostles, the new church, is being formed by more than 100 former members of Christ Church in Elizabethtown. The group is the first to break away in the Diocese of Kentucky, which includes Louisville and the western part of the state.

The appointment of Kentucky native V. Gene Robinson, who is openly gay, as bishop for the Diocese of New Hampshire was the “catalytical event” in the formation of Holy Apostles, said the Rev. Kent Litchfield, its founding pastor.

Robinson’s ordination was supported in 2003 by Bishop Edwin “Ted” Gulick and other representatives of the Diocese of Kentucky.

Litchfield, 66, retired as rector of Christ Church last month. Litchfield’s church will be part of the Anglican Communion Network, an American-based group that formed after Robinson’s ordination, and will be under the bishop of Bolivia.

Starting the new church is “about the authority of Scripture,” Litchfield said. “… We’re trying to get back to the authority of Scripture.”

He said the Episcopal Church is acquiescing to cultural pressures and has lost its moral high ground.

The new church’s first service will take place in the State Theater gallery in Elizabethtown.

Robinson’s ordination and a decision at the same time to create rites to bless same-sex unions have left some conservative members of the Episcopal Church questioning its faithfulness to the teachings of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

Gulick was unavailable for comment. His principal assistant, Canon James B. Magness, said diocesan officials are assisting Christ Church in finding a new rector.

“We regret and are saddened that he’s [Litchfield] done this,” Magness said. “On the other hand, that doesn’t change any of the processes that we have in the works for Christ Church of Elizabethtown.”

Although he considers himself to be conservative, Magness said he believes that the Episcopal Church must make room for discussion among members whose beliefs differ within the religion.

“It’s a struggle,” he said. “I don’t deny that.”

OXFORD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) – It may have been awkward enough for Ryan Hickmott to spend a month out of his comfort zone, but it was made more so as his experiences were chronicled for the FX network reality show “30 Days.”

The television show by Morgan Spurlock, creator of the Oscar-nominated 2004 documentary Super Size Me, pairs polar opposites, forcing them to view life from a different perspective.

Hickmott, of Oakland County’s Oxford Township, is a 24-year-old straight, conservative, devoutly Christian Army reservist who spent 30 days living with a gay man in a predominantly gay San Francisco neighborhood.

“I go out there and everybody’s looking at me like I’m the oddball,” Hickmott told The Oakland Press.

Hickmott said he went into the show believing homosexuality is a sin and that gays do not belong in the military.

While in San Francisco’s Castro neighborhood, Hickmott attended a gay church, worked at a neighborhood wine and cheese shop, met with about 40 gay military veterans and played on an all-gay softball team.

After the experience, he said he still holds his religious beliefs, but has become more open-minded.

“The thing I realized out there is gay people and straight people are the same,” Hickmott said. “There are no differences.”

ALBUQUERQUE (AP) – Members of the Church of Christ in New Mexico say they don’t know whether some people might quit after the denomination’s leaders passed a resolution supporting same-sex marriage.

The Rev. Sue Gallagher, pastor at Albuquerque’s Church of the Good Shepherd, said she doesn’t know whether she’ll lose congregation members over the nonbinding decision, but said she’s not worried.

“That’s part of our being an open church is people have lots of different views about lots of different issues, and they are free to express that however they so choose,” she said.

The general assembly of the United Church of Christ passed a resolution favoring “equal marriage rights for couples regardless of gender,” according to a Web site for the church, a mainline Christian denomination with 1.3 million members and 6,000 congregations.

The Web site lists 10 Church of Christ congregations in New Mexico, in Albuquerque, Angel Fire, Farmington, Hurley, Los Alamos, Rio Rancho, Santa Fe and Silver City.

The Rev. Talitha Arnold of the United Church of Santa Fe said the resolution doesn’t force any congregation to do what it doesn’t want to do.

“We’re not a top-down church,” she said.

Arnold and Gallagher’s churches will follow the policy, as will the First Congregational United Church of Christ in Albuquerque.

However, because same-sex marriage is not legal in New Mexico, pastors perform “commitment” or “blessing” ceremonies or “covenant services” rather than wedding ceremonies for same-sex couples.

The intent is similar to that of a wedding ceremony, said Gallagher, who estimates she’s performed such ceremonies for 10 to 15 years.

“It’s not the words that matter. It’s the intent, and the intent is to bless a relationship that intends to be long term, primary and monogamous,” she said.

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. (AP) – About 20 members of an anti-gay Kansas church picketed churches on July 2 with no major incidents. The group, led by the outspoken Fred Phelps, objects to the city’s openly gay mayor and continued to protest as the Mayor’s Cup celebration began.

The mayor, Daniel Stewart, walked by the protestors with his partner to cheers from local supporters.

Some residents dropped by out of curiosity. “I wanted to see just how hateful some people can be,” said one resident, Nicole Besso. “You don’t usually see that in real life.”

Phelps didn’t show and instead went to a separate, out-of-state protest. Most of the Kansas church members present were Phelps’ relatives.

Phelps’ daughter Margie explained, “Some people play golf; this is what we do.”

CLEVELAND (AP) – A jury awarded $490,000 to a former McDonald’s manager who claimed the company discriminated against him by forcing him out of his job after learning he has AIDS.

The Cuyahoga County Common Pleas jury ruled in favor of Russell Rich, 41, of Akron, in the second trial on his claim against the fast-food chain. He won $5 million after a 2001 trial but the verdict was overturned on appeal, based on faulty jury instructions from the judge.

His lead attorney, Paige Martin, said she would appeal the amount of the damages based on alleged errors by the latest judge to preside over the case.

She said the errors included the failure to let the jury decide to award more damages based on costly state-provided prescription coverage that would be lost with a higher income.

McDonald’s said it might appeal. “We are clearly disappointed with the jury’s verdict in this case,” spokesperson Bill Whitman said.