LOS ANGELES (AP) – California could lose millions of dollars for HIV and AIDS treatment under a federal proposal to shift more funding to rural and Southern states, local health officials say.

“We will not even be able to cover our basic medical care needs. That’s how devastating it is,” said Donna Fleming, a disease control manager for Orange County.

The county’s $4.8 million annual allotment could drop below $1 million within five years, she said.

The funding proposal, which a Senate health committee approved by a 19-1 vote last month, acknowledges complaints by lawmakers from rural and Southern states that urban areas have received a disproportionate amount of the $2 billion in annual federal HIV funds.

The proposal, which would renew and revise the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency Act, will now be considered by the full Senate and House.

If it passes, the Sacramento region could eventually lose all of its $3 million in annual direct federal funding, said Adrienne Rogers, coordinator of Ryan White programs in that area.

San Francisco could lose one-fourth of the $28 million it receives each year, said Scott Boule, an assistant policy director for the city’s Department of Public Health.

Local programs in Los Angeles County likely would lose money as well, but it’s unclear how much, said Craig Vincent-Jones, executive director of the county’s Commission on HIV.

MONTROSE, Colo. (AP) – One of two men charged in the strangulation of a gay man last summer was sentenced to eight years in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter and theft.

Adam Hernandez, 21, who was originally charged with felony murder in the July 30 death of Kevin Hale, 36, could instead be sent to a Department of Corrections boot camp program if the agency determines he’s an appropriate candidate, Chief Deputy District Attorney Myrl Serra said.

The judge ordered a six-year sentence for manslaughter and a two-year sentence for theft, with the sentences to run back-to-back, Serra said. Under the plea agreement, prosecutors had asked that Hernandez serve no more than eight years.

Hernandez apologized to Hale’s family.

“I can’t really say I’m innocent, and I can’t really say I’m guilty,” he said during the hearing. “I send all my love to you.”

Hernandez’s co-defendant, Jason Fiske, 24, is scheduled to appear in court June 13, though Serra declined to comment on whether a plea agreement had been reached. Fiske is charged with first-degree murder.

Hale had told police he had been threatened because he was gay, and his slaying sparked fears that he was targeted because of his sexual orientation. Activist groups called for hate-crime charges, but prosecutors declined to do so after investigating the case.

Hernandez, Fiske and Hale had been at a bar. Hernandez told investigators he wanted to beat up Hale because Hale had made sexual advances toward him, authorities said. Hale’s body was found in a Montrose park.

The day after the slaying, Fiske told police he placed Hale in a choke hold while breaking up a fight between the other two men. The arrest affidavit said Fiske told police he thought Hale was unconscious when they left him in the park.

An autopsy showed Hale died of strangulation, and that he had methamphetamine and an epilepsy medication in his system.

ATLANTA (AP) – A special justice has been named to hear an appeal involving the state’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage, the Georgia Supreme Court announced.

Superior Court Judge F. Larry Salmon, of Floyd County, will hear arguments in place of Georgia Supreme Court Justice Harold Melton, a former counsel to Gov. Sonny Perdue. Melton is named in legal papers challenging the same-sex marriage ban from his time in the executive branch and has declined to participate in arguments in the case.

Court spokesperson Rick Diguette said substitute justices are named in most cases where a justice on the seven-member court steps aside because of a conflict.

The state is appealing Superior Court Judge Constance Russell’s May ruling striking down the state’s constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. Georgia voters approved the ban with 76 percent approval in 2004. Russell said the ballot measure violated the state’s single-subject rule for ballot questions.

Although Georgia still has a law on the books banning same-sex marriage, Perdue said the measure may need to go before voters again in November. He has said he will call for a special session of the Legislature if the court agrees with Russell or fails to act by Aug. 7.

Oral arguments in the appeal are scheduled for June 27.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – A gay-friendly church has begun an advertising campaign that includes yard signs, bumper stickers and newspaper ads asking whether Jesus would discriminate against gays and lesbians.

The Jesus Metropolitan Community Church is spending $55,000 on the campaign. About 300 volunteers are distributing 650 bumper stickers, 720 T-shirts, 2,000 yard signs and 25,000 door hangers.

Church members hope the ads will spark a conversation about the issue, and they are also planning a town hall meeting on homosexuality and the Bible.

“Jesus defended social and religious outcasts,” said the Rev. Jeff Miner, senior pastor at the church. “Yet many in today’s church seem to specialize in beating up on those who are different. What’s wrong with this picture?”

An ad planned to run in The Indianapolis Star will show a group of Klansmen around a burning cross with a headline: “Remember a time when a symbol of love was used as a symbol of hate? The Bible shouldn’t be misused to justify discrimination against any group, including gay people.”

Miner said some people use the Bible now in the same way it was used to support slavery, oppose women’s suffrage and to defend laws against interracial marriage.

“We want to help other Christians connect the dots between past acts of discrimination and what is happening today,” he said.

Some conservatives, however, say it’s clear that sexual relations are condemned by the Bible unless they involve one man and one woman married to each other.

Curt Smith, of the Indiana Family Institute, said Miner is wrong about the role Christians have played in past discrimination. He said it was dedicated Christians who ended slavery and have fought for many social justice issues throughout history.

“The Bible is misused all the time, and I think the good pastor is misusing it as well,” said Smith.

Jesus Metropolitan Community Church in Indianapolis was founded in 1990 by 18 gay Christians. The church is working on the ad campaign with the national groups Faith In America – a group organized to fight discrimination against gays and lesbians – and Metropolitan Community Churches worldwide.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) – Joe Nadeau may have participated in his last Mass as music director of St. Agnes Catholic Church, but the 36-year-old conductor is looking forward to a more welcoming post.

Nadeau, whose contract was not renewed when he refused to pledge celibacy, proclaim homosexuality a disorder and quit conducting a gay men’s chorus, has been hired as the music director of First Lutheran Church in Mission Hills, Kan., a Kansas City suburb.

“Joe was the first and the only candidate,” said the Rev. Keith Hohly of First Lutheran. “Everybody was very excited about him being a part of our staff.”

Several First Lutheran members are in the Heartland Men’s Chorus, which Nadeau came to Kansas City in 1998 to lead. Nadeau then began working on the side as music director at St. Agnes, in the suburb of Roeland Park, Kan.

Under his direction, the music program grew to include two children’s choirs, youth and contemporary ensembles, and a Spanish-language musical liturgy. And as long as Nadeau kept his two jobs separate, former Kansas City Archbishop James Keleher told him, there was no problem with his directing of a gay chorus.

But in 2003, a group of conservative parishioners began campaigning against Nadeau, and they gained the support of Monsignor Gary Applegate and the church’s new leadership.

“I never told anyone about my sexual orientation at St. Agnes. It was all assumed, based on my role with the men’s chorus,” Nadeau said. “Nor did I ever once, in all my years there, challenge the teachings of the church.”

The Roman Catholic Church views homosexual acts as “intrinsically disordered” and in November held that priests who support “so-called gay culture” cannot be ordained. While Vatican teachings also instruct that gays and lesbians should be treated with compassion, church employees are expected to live according to Catholic doctrine.

While the Archdiocese of Kansas City has refused to discuss personnel, Nadeau’s contract was allowed to expire.

“The reason for me being [in Kansas City] was the men’s chorus,” he said. “It combines many areas of my life into one outlet, the gay aspect of it and the music-making side of it. And the combination is very powerful.”

Nadeau said he will miss the Catholic liturgy but is looking forward to working at First Lutheran Church. The congregation has adopted a “welcome policy” that includes gays and lesbians.

“There’s a lot of talent in the gay and lesbian community, and we have had a lot of talent in our congregation,” Hohly said.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) – The bishop of the United Methodist Nebraska Conference has given her blessing to an Omaha church’s decision to assist same-sex couples seeking commitment ceremonies.

First United Methodist Church’s congregation voted overwhelmingly in favor of a policy that would all but allow same-sex couples to have the ceremonies in the church.

First United would offer pastoral counseling to the couples and help them plan the ceremonies.

United Methodist rules forbid services uniting same-sex couples to be conducted by its ministers or in its churches.

Bishop Ann Sherer said there are a number of United Methodist churches across the nation doing the same thing as the Omaha church.

“What First United has done is stay within the discipline of the United Methodist Church and honor what the church has asked of them, and I’m deeply appreciative of that,” Sherer said. “They have reached out to a constituency they seek to serve. I am grateful for their faithfulness to the laws of the church and I’m also grateful they want to reach out and make disciples of many kinds of people.”

The Rev. Chad Anglemyer, senior minister at First United, said his congregation wants all gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons to have as full access to the church as possible.

Anglemyer said lay members can conduct Holy Union services outside the church. Then the couple, family and friends are invited to a worship service at First United.

As part of the pastoral counseling, couples can be referred to other denominations that permit their clergy to perform same-sex unions.

A First United task force drafted the church’s policy on same-sex unions. The policy was adopted at a May 7 meeting open to all church members. The vote was 85 in favor, five opposed and two abstentions.

Sherer said First United asked her to review the policy before the vote.

“I could see nothing that violated the discipline,” she said.

In 1997, Jimmy Creech, then senior minister of First United, conducted a Holy Union ceremony uniting two lesbians at the church. He was acquitted at a church trial but failed to win reappointment as senior minister.

Creech moved to North Carolina, where he conducted a Holy Union service uniting two gay men. At a second church trial, he was convicted and was stripped of his credentials as a United Methodist minister.

Six years ago the church joined the Reconciling Ministries Network, a national organization of United Methodist Churches and members who favor full equality for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons in the United Methodist Church. First United Methodist is the only Nebraska church that belongs.

NEW YORK (AP) – Two-time MVP Steve Nash joined LeBron James, Dirk Nowitzki, and other NBA and WNBA stars in a public service announcement raising awareness of the impact of AIDS on children.

Part of the NBA’s partnership with UNICEF to support Unite for Children, Unite Against AIDS, the TV ad will air during the NBA Finals this month.

NBA commissioner David Stern was joined by former Celtics star Bill Russell and current NBA players Dikembe Mutombo, Samuel Dalembert and former WNBA player Teresa Weatherspoon at a preview on May 31 at UNICEF headquarters.

Stern called the spots the “best use of the power of sports that I can possibly imagine” and said they “remind us of the power that we have.”

There are nine variations of the ad, which will also run in German, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish and Russian, featuring NBA stars who speak those languages: Nowitzki, Yao Ming, Pau Gasol and Andrei Kirilenko.

“There’s this global appeal of our players and our players have somehow caught the spirit,” he said.

Mutombo, who last month represented the NBA in London when it was honored by the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, said the fight against the virus is a global one.

“AIDS is no more just an African problem, it is becoming a world problem,” the native of Congo said. “It’s becoming a problem we all need to solve very fast.”

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Roey Thorpe is leaving for a bigger stage.

Thorpe, who has spent five years as the executive director of Basic Rights Oregon, the state’s largest gay rights organization, is stepping down at the end of June to take a job with New York-based Freedom to Marry, a national group dedicated to same-sex marriage – the very subject that put her in the spotlight two years ago.

Thorpe, 44, plans to start work in August as program director for Freedom to Marry, a group working to win same-sex marriage rights across the U.S. She will be responsible for implementing a national strategy for same-sex marriage on the state level.

Back in 2004, prompted by the groundswell to allow same-sex couples to marry in Massachusetts and elsewhere, Basic Rights Oregon asked Multnomah County to review state law on same-sex marriage, a request that eventually led county officials to announce that rejecting marriage license applications from same-sex couples violated the Oregon Constitution.

More than 3,000 same-sex couples soon received licenses, but opponents of same-sex marriage were outraged, as were those who felt the county politicians should have involved the public in the decision-making process.

Voters later approved Measure 36, which changed the Oregon Constitution to ensure that marriage can only apply to heterosexual couples, and the Oregon Supreme Court voided the licenses that had already been granted.

“I think that this is one of those situations where people may decry what they call the process, but I have no regrets,” Thorpe told The Oregonian newspaper.

Basic Rights Oregon will conduct a national search to find Thorpe’s replacement.

Portland City Commissioner Sam Adams, who worked on Thorpe’s board, described Thorpe’s departure as “great news for the nation, sad news for us.”

Kevin Mannix, who was the state Republican Party chair at the time Multnomah County allowed the marriages, also praised Thorpe.

“While we have deep philosophical differences, I recognize that she has great skills as an advocate and as a political strategist,” he said.

But Mannix added that Thorpe’s effort ultimately helped moderates and conservatives who want marriage reserved for one man and one woman.

“Whatever the merits of her strategy in the short term, in the long term, it boomeranged,” he said. “It lit the fuse on this powder keg of an issue.”

WASHINGTON (AP) – The Supreme Court rejected an appeal from an atheist father over Boy Scout recruiting at his son’s public school.

John Scalise had asked the court to bar public schools from opening their doors to Boy Scout recruiters and promoting membership, arguing that the group discriminates against nonreligious boys and parents by denying them membership if they don’t swear to religious oaths.

Scalise’s dispute with the Scouts dates back to 1998, when his son was a third-grader in Mount Pleasant, Mich.

He claims he and his son were barred from a Scout program at the elementary school because they would not pledge “to do my duty to God and my country.” They are nonreligious Humanists.

Michigan courts ruled that the school-Scout partnership did not advance religion in violation of constitutional dictates.

Attorneys for the Scouts and Mount Pleasant school system told justices that the appeal was frivolous.

A Michigan appeals court said that Mount Pleasant schools allowed other organizations to use class facilities, including a hospital group, a Native American tribe, a Baptist church and a hockey association.

Scalise argued that his son, Benjamin, was taunted by classmates and humiliated by a Boy Scout recruiter in front of other students. Benjamin Scalise is now 17.

The Supreme Court’s last Boy Scout case was in 2000. Justices ruled 5-4 at the time that the Boy Scouts can bar gays from serving as troop leaders. The ruling was written by Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, who died last year.

Scalise’s attorney, Timothy Taylor of Mount Pleasant, said taxpayer-funded schools are too cozy with the Boy Scouts.

“It’s going on all over the country and has been for decades,” he said.