LITTLE ROCK (AP) – A convicted Louisiana sex offender’s claim that he shouldn’t be compelled to register as a sex offender in Arkansas has been rejected by the state Court of Appeals.

The court upheld Eric Justin Flowers’ conviction in Crawford County Circuit Court for failing to register as a sex offender when he came to Van Buren from Texas, where he moved after serving time in a Louisiana prison for solicitation of oral sex.

Flowers was living in Fort Smith when he was arrested on the non-registration charge in February 2004. He received a three-year suspended sentence, was fined $1,000, ordered to pay court costs and required to perform 30 days of community service.

Flowers argued on appeal that it was fundamentally unfair to require him to register as a sex offender in Arkansas. The appeals court disagreed.

Apparently, the court said, Flowers was asking the appellate judges to consider his Louisiana crime to be equivalent to sodomy or prostitution.

The state Supreme Court struck down Arkansas’ anti-sodomy law in 2002, saying it was an unconstitutional invasion of privacy. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down bans on gay sex two years ago.

Flowers’ argument essentially was that, because any law prohibiting sodomy is not constitutional in Arkansas and because prostitution is not a sex offense for which one must register in Louisiana or Arkansas, it is fundamentally unfair to require him to register as a sex offender in this state.

The appeals court rejected the argument.

The crime to which Flowers pleaded guilty in Louisiana was clearly prohibited under that state’s law, and the Louisiana Supreme Court has ruled that there is nothing constitutionally offensive in prohibiting the crime.

Flowers was required to register as a sex offender in Louisiana and did so, the court said. Arkansas law plainly requires anyone who is convicted of a crime in another state and is required to register as a sex offender there to register in Arkansas.

The court said it was immaterial whether Arkansas would punish Flowers’ crime – officially, solicitation of unnatural carnal copulation for compensation – as Louisiana does.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) – A group petitioning to add a ban on same-sex marriage to the Florida Constitution argued, in papers filed with the Florida Supreme Court, that it would not affect other rights of unmarried and same-sex couples.

Florida4Marriage.org, a group with ties to conservative Christian organizations, responded to written arguments against the Florida Marriage Protection Amendment that were submitted by several same-sex couples being backed by the American Civil Liberties Union.

“By casting their ballot in favor of marriage as the union of one man and one woman, voters are not being asked to reject rights and protections for same-sex or unmarried couples,” Florida4Marriage.org wrote.

The brief argues “extending individual rights, protections, benefits, responsibilities, obligations or duties” to unmarried couples would not violate the proposed amendment.

The ACLU argument contends that it’s unclear whether the amendment would ban domestic partnerships that give people such rights as visiting a partner in the hospital or making medical decisions for a partner.

The anti-amendment brief also contended the proposal violates a ban on amendments with more than one subject because it also would erase other protections for same-sex couples.

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – Three additional infections of the virus that causes AIDS were reported to the state Health Department during the first six months of the year, bringing the total since 1984 to 351.

Health officials said the new infections diagnosed were in people ages 20 through 39. The three new cases were six fewer than during the same period in 2004.

North Dakota’s incidence of new HIV infections remains the lowest in the nation, but “it may provide false security” for state residents engaging in unprotected sexual contact or needle-sharing, said Denise Steinbach, HIV-AIDS surveillance coordinator for the Health Department.

Homosexual male unprotected sexual contact continues to account for about half of all HIV infections reported, the department said.

Heterosexual unprotected sexual contact and injecting drug use each account for about one-fourth of the cases.

SALEM, Ore. (AP) – Gay rights activists urged a judge to throw out a ban on same-sex marriage enacted by Oregon voters last November.

An attorney for Basic Rights Oregon argued the measure made separate amendments to the state constitution, each of which should have been voted on separately.

Lawyer Mark Johnson also told the judge that Measure 36 violated local governments’ home rule rights.

But Charles Fletcher, an assistant attorney general, said voters only clarified the marriage law and didn’t change it.

“There was no right to same-sex marriage before Measure 36, and there is no right to same-sex marriage after Measure 36,” Fletcher told Marion County Circuit Judge Joseph Guimond.

Oregon was among the first states where marriage licenses were issued for same-sex couples last year.

More than 3,000 licenses were granted before a Multnomah County judge halted the practice. But the judge also ruled that licenses issued up to that point were legal.

The state Supreme Court in April reversed the lower court on grounds that the county lacked authority to issue the licenses.

The Defense of Marriage Coalition, the chief opponent to same-sex marriage, easily collected enough petition signatures to put the same-sex marriage ban on the ballot last November.

The Democrat-controlled state Senate passed a bill this year to create civil unions giving same-sex couples many of the rights of marriage. The measure died in the Republican-dominated House.

Rebekah Kassell, a Basic Rights spokesperson, said the gay rights group likely will decide soon whether to try to put a measure on the November 2006 ballot to create civil unions.

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) – Opponents of a city ordinance that prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity have decided not to take their legal challenge to the state Supreme Court.

Their decision means an Aug. 11 ruling by a Commonwealth Court will stand. A three-judge panel said the city could legally broaden its anti-discrimination ordinance.

That ruling reversed a decision by a Lehigh County judge, who initially struck down the anti-bias protections, saying the city exceeded its authority under state law.

In 2002, Allentown amended its Human Relations Commission act – a law that prohibited employment and housing discrimination based on such things as race, religion or country of origin – to include sexual orientation and gender identity.

The legal challenge was later filed by landlords Gerry S. Hartman, John Lapinski and Robert and Debbie Roycroft.

Their lawyer, Randall L. Wenger, said he discussed a possible appeal to the state’s highest court, but that they decided against it.

“Ultimately, it’s the clients’ decision not to,” he said. “I advised them of my thoughts, and we, as a group, decided not to.”

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) – Elections workers have begun counting signatures on petitions calling for the recall of Mayor James E. West because of a sex and abuse-of-office scandal.

“So far, everything’s gone smoothly,” Spokane County Elections Supervisor Paul Brandt said after workers began checking signatures and addresses against voter registration cards.

The count, being watched by observers picked by both sides, is expected to take two weeks, Brandt said.

Recall supporters submitted petitions containing more than 17,000 signatures calling for West’s removal from office. If 12,567 of the signatures are valid, the recall could go to a special election as early as Nov. 29.

The recall campaign was prompted by articles in The Spokesman-Review newspaper that accused West of offering City Hall jobs, professional game tickets and cash to young men he met in an online gay chat room.

West has acknowledged poor judgment but denies doing anything illegal. He has not been charged with a crime, but the FBI is conducting a public corruption investigation.

The recall petitions specifically accuse West of abusing his office by offering to help a man he thought was an 18-year-old get a City Hall internship in exchange for sex. The chat room participant was actually a computer expert The Spokesman-Review hired to track West’s online activities.

Meanwhile, a legal challenge to the recall is making its way through Spokane County Superior Court.

A visiting judge from another county will hear the lawsuit filed by Spokane lawyer Steve Eugster, who is seeking an injunction to stop the signature validation process.

Eugster, a former city council member, argues that the signatures were collected illegally because they were gathered before the state Supreme Court issued its written reasons for allowing the recall campaign to proceed.

A visiting judge who has yet to be assigned is expected to set a schedule for hearings.

Shannon Sullivan, who filed recall paperwork in May, successfully argued that the effort to recall West should be allowed to proceed.

The high court on Aug. 24 issued its order affirming a lower court’s ruling that recall petitions could be circulated, but Eugster contends signatures cannot be gathered until the high court puts its reasons in writing.

He also contends West was not allowed to ask the high court to reconsider its order.

WASHINGTON (AP) – The U.S. government has approved the first generic versions of the AIDS medication AZT – including two by Indian companies – in a move that could reduce the expense for people in the United States being treated for the disease.

AZT, an anti-retroviral drug that is also known as Zidovudine, helps prevent the AIDS virus from reproducing in the body. It is often used in combination with other medications to treat an HIV infection.

Generic versions of the drug have previously been unavailable in the U.S. because patent or market exclusivity restrictions prevented them from being marketed. Now that those patents have expired, versions of drugs manufactured by Roxane Laboratories of Columbus, Ohio; Ranbaxy Laboratories of Guragon, India; and Aurobindo Pharma of Hyderabad, India, can go on the market.

The original, sold under the name Retrovir, is manufactured by GlaxoSmithKline. The Food and Drug Administration first approved Retrovir in 1987. A 300-milligram tablet can cost $7.

“These approvals will now allow those infected with HIV more access to these life-saving drugs within our country,” said Mike Leavitt, secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, in a statement.