DENVER (AP) – A coalition planning to ask voters to ban same-sex marriage said Jan. 31 that two pastors from the Denver area will lead the effort.

Bishop Phillip H. Porter Jr. of All Nations Church of God in Christ in Aurora and Ruben Mendez, an associate pastor at the Faith Bible Chapel in Arvada, will spearhead the campaign, said Jon Paul, executive director of Coloradans for Marriage.

Porter, 68, is president of the group and Mendez, 49, is vice president.

Paul said the coalition plans to work closely with churches, and naming two ministers to lead the effort will help. The announcement was first reported by the Rocky Mountain News.

Supporters have said the proposed constitutional amendment will likely define marriage as a union between a man and a woman. They hope to put it before voters in November.

At least two other proposals on same-sex relationships will be debated this year.

Two Democratic lawmakers are proposing a law that would create domestic partnerships allowing same-sex couples to automatically inherit each other’s property, among other provisions. Backers are also seeking voter approval.

A Republican legislator has introduced a bill that would recognize “reciprocal relationships” between same-sex couples and other nontraditional pairings, such as grandparents and grandchildren.

SANTA FE (AP) – A district court judge has dismissed charges against two men for their roles in a gay-bashing incident a year ago in a motel parking lot.

Paul Montoya, 20, and Jonathan Valdez, 23, are the only two defendants who haven’t accepted plea deals in the case.

Six men total are accused in the Feb. 27 attack that landed James Maestas, 21, in intensive care for nearly a week. Joshua Stockham, 23, suffered minor injuries.

Montoya and Valdez had faced charges of aggravated battery, conspiracy, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and criminal damage to property in the case.

But District Judge Michael Vigil dropped the charges Jan. 20 because prosecutors didn’t give the two enough notice before the grand jury that indicted them met.

Vigil questioned why prosecutors mailed the notice March 1, instead of delivering it, when the grand jury was set to meet March 10. The law requires a 10-day notification before the grand jury meets.

Dan Marlowe, Valdez’s attorney, said he was happy with the dismissal because prosecutors had skirted the law.

Shari Weinstein, the prosecutor in charge of the case, said she will re-present the evidence against Montoya and Valdez at a preliminary hearing scheduled for Feb. 8-10. Vigil – not a grand jury – will decide if probable cause exists to charge the two men in connection with the attack.

The other four men accused in the case have accepted plea bargains.

Isaia Medina, 20, and Gabriel Maturin, 20, pleaded guilty to conspiracy and aggravated battery causing great bodily harm.

Joseph Cano, 19, faces two and a half years in prison for driving the men to the motel. David Trinidad, 17, has pleaded guilty to battery, aggravated battery, conspiracy and criminal damage to property.

Hate-crime enhancements of up to one year on each charge are tied to the men’s sentences.

MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) – A man pleaded guilty to his role in looting an affluent Long Island school district of $7 million after a court ruled that his partner would have to testify against him.

Stephen Signorelli, in pleading guilty to second-degree grand larceny, admitted falsifying business records to steal $219,000 from the Roslyn school system. Judge Alan L. Honorof said he would sentence Signorelli to no more than three years in prison, far less than the 15 years he could have faced if convicted at trial.

Signorelli’s longtime partner, former Roslyn superintendent Frank Tassone, pleaded guilty in September and is expected to be sentenced to four to 12 years in prison at a hearing Feb. 28.

A state audit found that $11.2 million was taken from the district between 1996 and 2004, but prosecutors linked only about $7 million to Tassone and his co-defendants.

Prosecutors said Signorelli, a 60-year-old computer specialist, submitted phony and padded invoices for the printing of school handbooks.

Last month, Honorof rejected efforts to bar Tassone’s testimony from Signorelli’s case. Honorof ruled that although the men were registered domestic partners in New York City, any protection was lost because they were considered co-conspirators.

Three other defendants have pleaded guilty in the case.

GRAND FORKS, N.D. (AP) – University of North Dakota President Charles Kupchella has accepted the resignation of a choir director.

Kupchella said Anthony Reeves will be paid through May 15, the date his contract expires. The cost to pay Reeves’ salary for 2005-2006 is more than $44,000.

Kupchella said because Reeves chose to resign, he doesn’t need to determine whether there were sufficient grounds for Reeves’ dismissal.

Reeves, an assistant professor, had contended that the school wanted to fire him because he is gay and because he and his partner tried to adopt a 19-year-old student. University officials denied that.

Reeves was accused of unprofessional conduct and neglect of duty.

Reeves was placed on administrative leave last fall when he learned of the music department’s intent to fire him. He appealed the recommendation in a hearing that logged about 80 hours over two months.

The faculty committee who heard the appeal recommended that Reeves be fired but remain on administrative leave through May.

Reeves submitted a resignation letter Jan. 17 that was similar to the committee’s recommendation.

OXFORD, Ohio (AP) – A state legislator who filed a lawsuit challenging Miami University’s same-sex benefits policy was applauded but mostly heckled at a forum to discuss the court case.

Rep. Tom Brinkman Jr., R-Cincinnati, sued the university in November, asking Butler County Common Pleas Court for a ruling that the school’s domestic partners benefits policy violates Ohio’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage passed by voters in 2004.

The forum, sponsored by Miami’s College Republicans, drew about 400 people and was preceded by a rally of 150 students and faculty who support the school’s benefits policy.

Brinkman told the forum’s audience that his lawsuit is about preventing Miami from creating something that looks like same-sex marriage, which is illegal. He noted that Miami doesn’t offer the same benefits to unmarried, opposite-sex partners.

“You’ve either got to give it to everybody, or don’t give it to any of them,” Brinkman said. “All we’re asking is that Miami University follow the law.”

As a father of two Miami students and a taxpayer, Brinkman has said he doesn’t want his tuition and tax money going to support the policy.

Brinkman is represented in the lawsuit by Cincinnati attorney David Langdon, who wrote the same-sex marriage amendment language. He’s also being represented by the Arizona-based Christian legal group Alliance Defense Fund.

In December, the university asked that the suit be dismissed, calling Brinkman’s interpretation of the state constitution “erroneous.”

Miami began offering same-sex benefits in July 2004, four months before voters approved the amendment. The policy gave same-sex domestic partners of faculty and staff access to health and dental insurance, tuition remission and ticket discounts.

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – For years, a diagnosis of HIV foreshadowed rapid development of full-blown AIDS, drastic weight-loss and death, but a new study says that picture is changing.

In fact, the University of Pennsylvania study of HIV patients in local hospitals found that about 45 percent were overweight or obese.

“The trend in our group of HIV-infected persons was that obesity and overweight were common in both men and women, in fact three times more common than wasting,” Dr. Valerianna Amorosa, assistant professor of infectious diseases at Penn and a co-author of the study, said in an e-mail.

Amorosa and her colleagues examined 1,669 HIV-positive patients since 1999 and found that 14 percent were obese, 31 percent were overweight and only 9 percent were wasting.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – The House of Delegates passed legislation allowing local school boards to prohibit the use of school facilities by groups they believe encourage promiscuity.

Opponents of Del. Matthew Lohr’s bill claim its real purpose is to dissolve Gay-Straight Alliances, which typically meet on campus. But Lohr, R-Harrisonburg, said during debate Jan. 30 that the bill does not target any specific group.

Without further debate, the House voted 70-29 to pass the bill.

The House also voted 68-31 to pass a bill sponsored by Del. L. Scott Lingamfelter, R-Prince William, requiring family life education programs to encourage abstinence as the only guarantee against unwanted pregnancy.

Both bills now go to the Senate, where a bill identical to Lohr’s died in committee last year.

WASHINGTON (AP) – Republican Sen. Sam Brownback, a potential presidential candidate, said he meant no offense to homosexuals when he used the word “fruits” in a recent interview with Rolling Stone magazine.

In a lengthy profile titled “God’s Senator,” the magazine quotes the Kansas Republican as criticizing countries like Sweden that allow civil unions between same-sex couples.

“You’ll know them by their fruits,” Brownback said, quoting a biblical passage from Matthew 7:16.

Rolling Stone writer Jeff Sharlet said in the story that Brownback appeared to be calling gay Swedes “fruits,” a derogatory term for homosexuals.

After gay and lesbian advocacy groups denounced the comments, Brownback issued a statement saying his quote “was in no way referring to sexual orientation.”

“While this biblical passage was pertinent to our overall conversation about faith and deeds, it apparently led the writer to believe I was making a joke,” said Brownback, a frequent critic of same-sex marriage who is pushing a constitutional amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

“I was not and would never do so with such a personal and sensitive issue,” Brownback said.

His explanation was greeted with skepticism by the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay rights organization.

“It’s nice to know that Senator Brownback doesn’t resort to name-calling from the 1970s, but unfortunately his anti-gay agenda continues to speak for itself,” said spokesperson Brad Luna.