INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – The Indianapolis City-County Council voted 15-14 to pass an ordinance banning discrimination in the workplace and housing market based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

Advocates argued the gay rights ordinance merely extended policies already in place in many government offices and several large companies. Opponents argued that it sanctioned the “gay lifestyle,” which they believe is wrong.

TONGANOXIE, Kan. (AP) – A small-town teenager who was bullied for years by classmates because they believed he was gay was awarded $440,000 in a settlement, his lawyer said.

The settlement ended a long-running battle between the Tonganoxie School District and 18-year-old Dylan Theno, who sued in May 2004 claiming he was harassed with homophobic slurs from seventh grade until he quit school in the 11th grade, one year before completing high school.

Under the terms, the school district and its insurance company will pay Theno $440,000, said his attorney, Arthur Benson.

“I expect this case will have profound effects nationwide in dealing with schoolyard bullying and harassment,” Benson said. “Insurance companies will have a very powerful economic incentive to see that districts’ anti-harassment policies are aggressive and effective.”

Theno, who testified that he isn’t gay, recently passed a high-school diploma exam and attends a vocational technical school in Kansas City.

“I feel great,” he said about the settlement. “I mean, you have all that lifted off your shoulders at once. The school district has finally been held accountable for their actions.”

Theno’s lawsuit had argued the district enforced its sexual harassment policy when a female student was harassed, but didn’t in Theno’s case.

Calls to the school district and its attorney, Steven Pigg, were not immediately returned.

A federal jury in August had found in Theno’s favor, but the district appealed and a judge ordered a federal mediator to try to settle the dispute.

COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. (AP) – A priest at St. John’s University is resigning from his leadership position in response to newly clarified restrictions against admitting homosexuals into the Catholic priesthood.

The Rev. Bob Pierson, in an e-mail to administrators and students at St. John’s and nearby College of St. Benedict, said, “Because I can no longer honestly represent, explain and defend the church’s teaching on homosexuality, I feel I must resign.” Pierson said he would resign effective Jan. 15.

In November, the Vatican announced that it was toughening its stand against gay candidates for the priesthood. The Vatican specified in a document that even men with “transitory” homosexual tendencies must overcome their urges for at least three years before entering the clergy.

Pierson, the chaplain and director of Campus Ministry, said in the e-mail that he is gay and celibate. He said there were several elements in the Vatican document that he did not accept as true, including the assertion that homosexuals are “objectively disordered.”

“I am not an infallible person, but I cannot remain silent about my disagreement in conscience with this document, or the church’s teaching on homosexuality,” the priest said.

Efforts to obtain a phone number for Pierson were not immediately successful. A phone message left by The Associated Press with a spokesperson for the Diocese of St. Cloud wasn’t immediately returned.

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) – William Paterson University has rescinded a reprimand it had given to an employee who used an e-mail to describe homosexuals as “perversions.”

Ruling on a grievance brought by his union, a university hearing officer found no evidence to support the charge that Roy “Jihad” Daniel had violated New Jersey’s regulations governing harassment when he replied to a professor who had sent out an e-mail inviting people to watch a film about a lesbian relationship.

The 68-year-old computer worker and part-time student replied on March 8 to a mass e-mailing from professor Arlene Holpp Scala, saying he did not wish to receive any further e-mails “about Connie and Sally, and Adam and Steve.”

“These are perversions,” he wrote as part of his one-paragraph response.

Daniel went on to write that “the absence of God in higher education brings on confusion. That is why in these classes the Creator of the heavens and the earth is never mentioned.”

Scala forwarded the e-mail to a university office responsible for handling discrimination complaints, saying she considered it threatening and in violation of the school’s anti-discrimination policy.

The publicly funded university reprimanded Daniel, saying his comments were derogatory and demeaning.

He contested the discipline, and contacted the Philadelphia-based Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, which publicized his case and helped him prepare for a university hearing on Nov. 16.

In the ruling, university hearing officer Sandra DeYoung determined that his “use of the term ‘perversion,’ although it may be upsetting to some, does not appear to have caused any discriminatory actions.” The foundation posted the ruling on its Web site. DeYoung also determined the e-mail “did not sound like hate speech,” and noted Daniel had cited religious works to support his beliefs. DeYoung did find that sending the e-mail on company time warranted a verbal reprimand.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) – A minister’s free speech rights were not violated when Madison police told him to remove anti-gay banners from highway overpasses, a federal judge ruled.

U.S. District Judge John Shabaz told the Rev. Ralph Ovadal of Monroe, chair of Wisconsin Christians United, that testimony in the trial of his lawsuit against the city showed that the “spectacle” created by the banners Sept. 2, 2003, created a traffic hazard with traffic slowing.

“But there is nothing that suggests it was the message” that caused the dangerous slowdown or caused police to ask the demonstrators to leave, Shabaz said last week.

“There’s no evidence to suggest it was the message. None whatsoever. People were asked to leave [the overpasses] only because of the narrow circumstances…. You can’t do it at rush hour. It isn’t the message we [motorists] don’t like, it’s the fact that we can’t get home on time.”

Ovadal said it was likely he would appeal.

“The bottom line is, based on traffic congestion caused by a minor accident up the road, and based on angry reactions to our message, we were banned from sharing our message. I believe the appeals court will see that,” he said. “I think the city very skillfully manipulated the facts.”

Shabaz had previously denied a temporary injunction that would have barred Madison police from ordering the removal of the banners. The judge said such a move would have prevented police from ensuring public safety.

But the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago ruled in July that Ovadal had a constitutional right to display banners on the overpasses, despite the reactions of drivers who caused traffic problems.

Judge Michael Kanne said in writing for the three-judge panel that, although homosexuality is a contentious issue, unpopular speech is protected by the First Amendment.

The City Council has since adopted an ordinance banning any display of banners or signs on the overpasses, other than traffic signs, which went into effect Jan. 1.

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) – The Spokesman-Review newspaper is asking a judge to rethink his decision not to allow the release of photographs – from a gay-oriented Web site – found on the city-owned laptop computer of recalled Mayor James E. West.

West was recalled from office last month by a nearly 2-1 margin on an abuse-of-office charge. The recall election came seven months after the newspaper began publishing a series of articles detailing his trolling of gay Internet chat rooms.

On Nov. 17, Adams County Superior Court Judge Richard Miller ordered the release of an index of the dates and times West used the computer to access Gay.com and other similar Web sites, but with individual Web addresses redacted to protect the privacy of third parties.

The court said disclosure of the specific addresses “may result in identification of individuals who have an expectation of privacy” due to a user agreement with Gay.com.

In a recent legal filing, attorneys for the newspaper argued that pictures and “profiles” found at Gay.com are posted by individuals who have no expectation of privacy on the Web site and, in fact, want others to see the information.

The newspaper sought the information under the state’s Open Records Act while investigating rumors that West was visiting a gay Internet chat room, offering city jobs and perks to young men in exchange for dates.

The city of Spokane’s computer chief, Garvin Brakel, testified that a person who is not a member of Gay.com could not access the personal profiles of those addresses found on West’s computer.

However, attorneys Duane Swinton and Tracy LeRoy said in their motion for reconsideration that Brakel gave the court incorrect information.

“Brakel’s understanding of how a person can access profiles on Gay.com is mistaken,” the attorneys said in a legal brief. They said any member of the public can use a zip code to search for profiles of people whose photographs and personal data have been affirmatively placed on the Web site.

The judge is expected to hear arguments on the motion for reconsideration early this month.