DOTHAN, Ala. (AP) – The lesbian mother of a 12-year-old girl has objected to a sex education pamphlet handed out at a Dothan middle school that describes homosexuality as not being a “legitimate lifestyle.”

The pamphlet, titled “The Top 10 Questions Teenagers Ask about Sex,” was distributed in March as part of a three-day program at Honeysuckle Middle School. Angela Williams, whose 12-year-old daughter brought it home, approved of much of it, including its abstinence guidance, but not the pamphlet’s view of homosexuality.

“I got to question eight and my jaw dropped,” she told The Dothan Eagle. “I can’t believe they went there.”

Question No. 8 is: “What can I do if I am attracted to someone of the same sex?” The answer includes the statement: “Too often, homosexuality is shown as a legitimate lifestyle equal to a heterosexual lifestyle.” It also says homosexuality is “contrary to the laws of nature.”

“It’s a good program,” said Honeysuckle Principal Patsy Slaughter. “But that’s not to say that it can’t be reviewed – and that’s what we’re going to do.”

The pamphlet, printed in 2005, was written by Molly Kelly and Mark Houck, who speak widely to teenagers about saving sex for marriage. Their speaking engagements are provided through Generation Life, an Oreland, Pa.-based organization that opposes abortion and promotes chastity.

The pamphlet was included in the program taught by representatives of Crossroads, which was approved by the Dothan City School Board and has been used in Dothan schools for about 15 years. But Steve Stokes, chair of the board, told the newspaper that the current board has not yet had the opportunity to vote on the program now in place. He said he did not consider it appropriate for his children.

Slaughter said the program involves character education as well as sex education and is meant to help adolescents deal with changes they are experiencing at their age. Parents must sign a consent form for students to participate, and some of the material is available for review at the school.

Paul Carnes, the Dothan coordinator of Equality Alabama, a group that focuses on issues affecting the GLBT community, said the organization is following the Honeysuckle Middle School matter.

MONROVIA, Calif. (AP) – A former police officer is suing the department and police chief, alleging that he was discriminated against because he is gay.

Michael Solarez, 38, a seven-year veteran with the Monrovia Police Department, was terminated in March 2005. Solarez said he was let go after he privately told Chief Roger Johnson about his sexual orientation while trying to protect fellow gay officers from harassment and hazing.

Solarez accused Johnson of making his sexuality public. The lawsuit, filed in December, also names a sergeant, captain and officer, whom Solarez accused of harassing gay and lesbian officers in the department.

“It created a very hostile environment,” Solarez said. “A couple times it was very devastating. When I first got outed and people in the community started finding out, I got very upset.”

Attorney Scott Tiedemann, who represents the defendants in the case, denies the allegations.

Solarez said he was terminated for violations that included filing a late report, leaving his keys overnight in a patrol car and being involved in a minor accident during a pursuit. He alleged other officers were not punished for the same violations.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Dozens of gay and lesbian Methodist ministers have anonymously signed a letter acknowledging their sexuality and calling for further inclusion in the church.

The message was released by the Chicago-based Reconciling Ministries Network, which calls for allowing people of all sexual orientations to fully participate in the United Methodist Church, in advance of a meeting of the church’s Judicial Council.

About 75 gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender clergy were said to have signed the letter, though their names were kept secret and held by an attorney for the Chicago group for fear that they could be disciplined. Last year, the Rev. Beth Stroud was defrocked by the Judicial Council for being in a lesbian partnership.

Gays and lesbians are allowed to become Methodist ministers, but the church says they must remain celibate.

“The UMC’s official policy has pushed us, as well as our families, into closets of fear and isolation,” read the letter sent to church leaders and members. “We are not deceitful people, but the church has given us no choice.”

Matters of church policy, including its stance on homosexuality, are decided by the 1,000-member General Council, which meets every four years. The next meeting is in 2008.

The Judicial Council makes judgments in individual cases, including that of a gay man denied membership in a Virginia church.

Stephen Drachler, a United Methodist Church spokesperson, said it was unclear what effect the letter could have.

“It’s important that a number of United Methodist clergy who say they are gay or lesbian have signed a letter and they have made a statement,” he said. “Where that goes, no one can answer that.”

FREDERICK, Md. (AP) – Five high school students were suspended after staging a “die-in” in front of a Marine Corps recruiting booth during an on-campus job fair, one of the students said.

Bob Hayes, a junior at Gov. Thomas Johnson High School, said he and four other students fell down in front of the booth, then passed out leaflets protesting the war in Iraq and the presence of military recruiters on school grounds.

A sheriff’s deputy took two students away after they refused to move during their demonstration, Hayes said. Three others went willingly and were kept in the principal’s office for about three hours, he said.

“I don’t think what we’re doing is wrong. I think what we’re doing is good,” said Hayes, who added that he planned to appeal his suspension.

A school official confirmed that five students were disciplined for distributing unapproved leaflets and partially blocking access to an adjacent booth.

“We do not suspend kids for protesting if they do it in the right way,” said Hank Bohlander, an associate superintendent of Frederick County Public Schools.

The students were told they could return to school after their parents met with school officials, Hayes said.

The protest followed the county school board’s rejection earlier this year of student petitions seeking to bar military recruiters from campus.

Hayes, who had helped lead that effort, had argued that recruiters should be banned from school grounds because the military rejects openly gay, lesbian and bisexual people and uses misleading recruitment tactics.

HOUGHTON, Mich. (AP) – Some students at Michigan Tech University say the administration hasn’t reacted strongly enough to a series of anti-gay slogans scrawled on campus walkways last month.

During a forum, graduate student Cynthia Weber said she was disappointed with a campus-wide e-mail that President Glenn Mroz sent after the chalked graffiti was discovered April 7.

The e-mail concluded by noting that such things also happen at other schools. That could have led the guilty people to believe what they did was no big deal, Weber said.

“They are not children, let’s not infantize them,” she said. “This is scary.”

Caroline Taylor, an associate professor of chemistry, agreed.

“We have told them a hate crime will be tolerated,” she said. “What we’ve said to students is that we only care about some of them. We should be ashamed of our response.”

Betty Chavis, director of outreach and multiethnic educational opportunities, defended Mroz. “I like this president,” she said. “At least there’s dialogue going on and he’s here.”

Mroz thanked the crowd for its candor as the gathering ended.

“I learned a lot tonight,” he said, adding that he believed the crime would be solved. “Word will get out that this isn’t tolerated.”

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – The congregation of a Minneapolis church has voted that the church stop performing civil marriages because such marriages aren’t accessible to same-sex couples.

“I will officiate at only religious marriages for same- and opposite-gender couples alike. I will no longer sign marriage licenses as an agent of the state of Minnesota, until the state of Minnesota recognizes the loving commitment of all couples,” said Pastor Don Portwood of the Lyndale United Church of Christ.

The vote makes the church the second in the state to refuse to perform civil marriages. White Bear Unitarian Universalist church made a similar stand a few years ago.

They join a small group of churches across the country that won’t perform the civil marriage ceremony for male-female couples because same-sex couples are not allowed to marry.

NEW YORK (AP) – Two days after city parks officials shut down a Brooklyn College exhibit that included sexually explicit images, the school said May 6 that it would move the artworks to campus, prompting objections from some of the artists.

The exhibit opened May 3 at the city-owned Brooklyn War Memorial, displaying watercolors depicting gay sex and sculpted male genitalia illuminated in a box. Another work featured a white pet rat.

The memorial is used as gallery space by Brooklyn College, which is part of the City University of New York. The city Parks Department has said that an agreement with the college stipulated that its art exhibits at the memorial be “appropriate for families.”

College Provost Roberta Matthews said in a statement that officials decided to move the exhibit to the campus.

“Throughout, the administration of the college has supported our students’ rights to freedom of artistic expression,” she said.

The office of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has ultimate authority over the exhibit’s placement, did not immediately return calls.

Warner Johnston, a spokesperson for the parks department, said, “We look forward to continuing our relationship with the college, utilizing the space as an art gallery for the public.”

Marni Kotak, one of the 18 artists whose works were on display, said she and several others were “adamantly opposed” to moving the show to the campus and did not plan to cooperate with the transfer.

“The point of having the show at this space was that there really wasn’t the right kind of space on campus to do this,” Kotak said.

The students held a rally with about 50 people in front of the memorial May 6.

NEW YORK (AP) – A man convicted of a hate crime for the brutal beating of a gay neighbor was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Steven Pomie, a suspected street gang member, was convicted by a jury last month of first-degree assault and assault as a hate crime for the June 9, 2005, attack on Dwan Prince. He received the maximum, 25 years on each charge, with the sentences to run concurrently.

Pomie, 23, attacked Prince as he walked home, shouting anti-gay slurs while he beat him unconscious and kicked him in the head, prosecutors said.

Prince suffered severe head injuries and remained in a coma for some time. Authorities said Pomie – with the victim already beaten, bloodied and on the ground – delivered the final blow by kicking him in the head.

Investigators said they believed Pomie knew about Prince’s homosexuality before the attack.

Police said witnesses told them that Pomie was walking down the street when he noticed Prince staring at him.

They said Pomie asked Prince, “What are you looking at? You want a piece of me?”

Investigators said Prince responded by saying something that enraged Pomie, who then began beating him.

Police said Pomie had an extensive arrest record and was a suspected member of the Crips street gang.

FORT BRAGG, N.C. (AP) – A second Army paratrooper pleaded guilty May 1 to charges stemming from an investigation of soldiers who appeared on a military-themed pornographic Web site.

Pvt. Kagen B. Mullen, 21, one of seven members of the 82nd Airborne Division charged with appearing on the site, pleaded to charges of conduct detrimental to the Army and use of marijuana.

He told a judge he received $7,500 for appearing in the pornographic scenes but didn’t perform homosexual acts, though the pornography on the Web site was mostly aimed at gays.

He was sentenced to 90 days in prison, a bad conduct discharge and loss of two-thirds of his pay.

Last month, Pfc. Richard Ashley pleaded guilty to sodomy, using an unauthorized prescription drug and conduct detrimental to the Army. Ashley was sentenced to about two and a half months in prison.

A hearing is scheduled May 16 for Pfc. Wesley K. Mitten.

Four other paratroopers received nonjudicial punishment, and the division recommended they be discharged. The soldiers, whose names weren’t disclosed, were reduced to the rank of private, lost a half-month’s pay for two months and were restricted to Fort Bragg for 45 days.

The 15,000 paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne are among the Army’s most elite soldiers, having volunteered to serve in a unit that trains to deploy anywhere in the world within 18 hours.

The military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy states that “homosexual orientation alone is not a bar to service, but homosexual conduct is incompatible with military service.” Service members who violate the policy are removed from the military.