MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) – Voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in Alabama on June 6, granting what conservative supporters called additional protection for traditional families in a state where same-sex unions already are illegal.

Returns showed the amendment passing by wide margins in both rural and urban areas, north and south.

Joseph Rembert Jr. said he didn’t go to the polls solely because of the amendment, but he was glad it was on the ballot.

“I’m all man, so I ain’t got nothing to do with that,” said Rembert, 32, of Montgomery. “I go by what the Bible says – man and woman.”

But Gwen Carmack of Mobile said it’s not the business of government to decide who can get married and who can’t.

“I just prefer the state not do that. It’s an individual choice,” said Carmack, 56, a project manager in health care software.

CHICAGO (AP) – Pioneering publisher Ralph Paul Gernhardt, who co-founded Gay Chicago magazine three decades ago, has died. He was 72.

He died June 4 after a battle with lung cancer, said his son, Craig, who is now the magazine’s publisher.

The modern gay rights movement was in its infancy in 1972 when Gernhardt started a telephone hotline offering a recorded message about gay-friendly parties and clubs.

The line’s popularity convinced Gernhardt that he had found a niche that was being underserved, and he co-founded Gay Chicago in 1976.

In addition to its rambunctious entertainment coverage, the magazine had outspoken views on HIV/AIDS and discrimination, and it promoted safer sex practices and HIV testing. Gay Chicago also became known for its Grabby Awards, now in their 14th year, celebrating the best achievements in gay erotic videos.

As a young man, Gernhardt served in the Air Force and then worked as a radio broadcaster for 17 years in Colorado, Louisiana, Michigan, Tennessee, Texas and Wyoming, Craig Gernhardt said.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – The battle over whether same-sex couples should be allowed to adopt children continues in the state court system, but Indiana allows the couples to become foster parents, which some advocates say is a double standard.

Kim Brennan and Becki Hamilton cared for three foster children without raising uproar, but when they adopted a child, they were thrust into a legal battle over adoption by same-sex couples in Indiana.

“We’re good enough to fix the broken children they send to us, but we’re not good enough to be their parents?” Brennan told The Indianapolis Star. “Look at that from a child’s aspect: If gays and lesbians aren’t good enough to adopt them, but they can be foster parents, what does that say about how the state feels about our foster children?”

Two trial judges in the couple’s Morgan County case have disagreed about the adoption, and the Indiana Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 in April that it is legal under state law.

On May 15, Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter asked the Indiana Supreme Court to decide whether two people who are not married can jointly petition for an adoption.

No matter what the court decides, state Sen. Jeff Drozda, R-Westfield, wants to ban gays and lesbians from adopting. He said children are better off in households that have a mother and father, and that there is a clear distinction between adopting and foster parenting.

“Whenever you’re doing a foster situation, the child is still a ward of the state,” Drozda said. “And that is obviously a little bit different than turning over full adoption, full parental authority to [a gay or lesbian] individual or couples.”

Legislators across the country seem to feel the same way, said Carrie Evans, state legislative director for the Human Rights Campaign. Evans said more than a dozen states are considering making it illegal for gays and lesbians to adopt, while only a handful have tried to stop them from being foster parents.

“We are seeing a lot of lawmakers who may have been against marriage, adoption and equality [for gays and lesbians] who are not willing to support foster-family restrictions,” said Evans, whose group supports the right of gays and lesbians to adopt and marry.

Micah Clark, executive director of the American Family Association of Indiana, said he thinks foster homes with a mother and father are best for children.

But Evans said there are no peer-reviewed studies that show children of lesbian and gay parents grow up any worse off than others. She said gays and lesbians should not be prohibited from foster parenting.

“To shut out a whole class of people who could qualify to provide stable, loving homes is just illogical and so patently unfair to these children,” Evans said.

NEW YORK (AP) – A recording artist assaulted by youths yelling anti-gay slurs in the East Village left the hospital June 12, his leg in a brace and his jaw wired shut because of the injuries he had suffered.

Kevin Aviance clutched a bouquet of yellow roses from a well-wisher, and a framed photo of himself in performance costume and makeup, as he was wheeled out of Beth Israel Medical Center in Manhattan.

Aviance, 38, who performs in drag, appeared on the Billboard dance music charts in 2002 and 2004 with his songs “Give It Up” and “Alive.”

His publicist, Len Evans, said Aviance’s jaw will be wired shut for about two weeks. The singer also suffered a fractured left knee, which he had in a brace.

Evans said earlier that Aviance still hopes to participate in the Pride parade at the end of the month.

On June 11, speaking with difficulty from his hospital bed, Aviance told reporters that he hoped the incident raises more attention about such attacks. “If nothing else, I hope it brings more awareness.”

Aviance was set upon at about 1:30 a.m. June 10 on a street corner. Evans said Aviance could hear passersby yelling at the attackers to stop. When it was over, a stranger walked him to a hospital.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg called the attack “a disgrace.”

Four people were arrested on charges of first-degree assault as a hate crime. Police identified them as Jarell Sears, of Newark, N.J., and Akino George, of the Bronx, both 20; Gregory Archie, 18, and Gerard Johnson, 16, both of Manhattan. Johnson was charged as an adult.

CINCINNATI (AP) – An appeals court threw out the conviction of a death row inmate, ruling that his confession in the murder of a man he met at a gay bar in 1985 should not have been allowed as evidence.

Robert VanHook must be retried within six months or released, a three-judge panel of the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in its unanimous ruling.

VanHook, 25 at the time, was convicted of strangling and repeatedly stabbing David Self, also 25, in Self’s apartment after the two met in the bar and left together. He was arrested in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

VanHook had told police he had been looking for “a homosexual” he could lure away from the bar to rob, according to case records. He claimed he killed him because of temporary insanity, triggered when Self made sexual advances.

Cincinnati police questioned VanHook in the Florida jail after he had requested legal counsel, violating his right to have an attorney present, the appeals court said.

“The police bungled an otherwise strong case,” Judge Gilbert S. Merritt wrote. “As a result of this violation, VanHook’s subsequent incriminating statements and confession should have been suppressed.”

The judges also found that they couldn’t say with assurance that the three-judge Hamilton County Common Pleas panel that convicted VanHook of murder and aggravated robbery wasn’t “substantially swayed” by the confession.

“It was a victory for the constitutional right to counsel, because this decision reaffirms a person’s right to talk to a lawyer if he wants to,” said James Owen, one of two court-appointed attorneys who appealed for VanHook. The other, Keith Yeazel, said he was unable to reach VanHook in prison by telephone but had faxed the ruling to him. His attorneys said VanHook had been under a death warrant a decade ago before gaining a stay of execution.

The attorney general’s office said it was reviewing its options, which include asking the full circuit court to review the ruling and appealing to the U.S. Supreme Court.

“VanHook has never denied killing Self, but he maintains he did so in a rage precipitated by the sexual advances of Self and as the result of a severe borderline personality disorder,” the ruling said, adding that Self was “diabolically stabbed.”

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) – A gay civil rights law took effect June 7, a day after foes of the measure failed to submit enough voter signatures to force a public vote this fall.

The measure adds “sexual orientation” to a state law that bans discrimination in housing, employment, insurance and credit. It makes Washington the 17th state with laws protecting gays and lesbians, and the seventh to protect transgender people.

Gay rights supporters said discrimination will not end with this new law.

“But it sends a very strong message that discrimination against gay people is wrong and illegal” said Matt Foreman, executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in Washington, D.C. “And it sends a strong message to potential victims that you don’t have to take it anymore.”

Opponents of the law argue that it gives gays and lesbians preferential treatment, encourages quotas, and could lead to same-sex marriage – an issue the state Supreme Court is expected to rule on any week now.

“This is a flagrant attempt to force values upon others,” said Rick Forcier, state director of the Christian Coalition.

Referendum 65 would have asked voters whether they wanted to keep the anti-discrimination law passed this year by the Legislature.

But referendum supporters fell short of the number of signatures they needed to make it to the ballot. Initiative activist Tim Eyman arrived at the state elections division just minutes before closing time June 6 and announced he and allies had collected 105,103 signatures – fewer than the 112,440 minimum required and considerably less than the 130,000 that is suggested in order to cover duplicate or invalid signatures.

State Rep. Ed Murray, one of four openly gay state lawmakers and prime sponsor of the legislation, said he was relieved.

“This means people do not believe in discrimination,” he said. “They may not feel good about gay and lesbian people, but they don’t like discrimination.”