DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – A Polk County judge denied a request by 25 lawmakers to intervene in a legal battle over the state’s ban on same-sex marriages on Aug. 9.

Judge Robert Hanson overruled several arguments made by the lawmakers, including how allowing same-sex marriages would have a sweeping impact on the state’s budget and several other laws.

“Whether or not constitutional claims are valid is a matter of judicial determination, not legislative,” Hanson said in his ruling. “The separation of powers between legislative and judicial authority is not endangered by this case. Nor will any determination by this court limit the legislature’s authority to make laws.”

The lawmakers – all but one of whom are Republicans – wanted to be included as defendants in a lawsuit filed by six gay and lesbian couples who contend the state’s marriage laws are unconstitutional.

Rep. Carmine Boal, R-Ankeny, said legislators were disappointed in the decision but are not convinced the couples will win the case.

“We’ve seen some court decisions in other states that we believe strengthen our case,” Boal said.

Camilla Taylor, staff attorney in Lambda Legal’s Midwest office in Chicago and attorney on the case, said: “We are thrilled that the court has stopped this effort at meddling and allowed these couples to seek these important rights for their families without interference or grandstanding by politicians.

“Unlike the politicians, who sought to intervene, plaintiffs have a direct stake in the case – plaintiffs and their children need the vital supports and protections that come only with marriage, such as the ability to visit each other in the hospital, or take bereavement leave if they suffer a death in the family.”

State supreme courts in Washington and New York issued defeats for same-sex marriage proponents in decisions released in July.

Iowa’s lawsuit, filed in December, contends that the same-sex couples were treated unfairly when Polk County Recorder Tim Brien improperly denied them marriage licenses. The lawsuit argues that Iowa’s marriage law is unconstitutional because it draws “impermissible distinctions based on sex and sexual orientation.”

The trial is scheduled to begin in early 2007.

MEADE, Kan. (AP) – A 12-year-old son’s gift of a colorful flag he found while staying with his grandparents in California has put his parents in the middle of controversy in this small town.

J.R. and Robin Knight said they knew the rainbow flag was a symbol of gay rights when they decided last month to fly it on a pole in front of their business, the Lakeway Hotel. But that isn’t why they flew the banner.

“We just put it up. We didn’t think about it,” Robin said. “It has pretty colors, it’s bright, it’s summery.”

And, J.R. Knight said, it was a symbolic way to have their son nearby.

The decision prompted a controversy in the town of 1,600 and eventually someone cut the flag down. It’s also prompted an Internet-fueled debate on gay rights in rural America, and the Knights say they have received messages of support from around the world.

Now, the Knights say, they are determined to replace the flag and keep it flying.

Waitress Vicky Best said such a flag has no place in Meade.

“It’s hard enough to keep your kids on the straight and narrow without outside influences like that,” she complains. “We stay in a small town to stay away from the crap like that that’s happening in big cities,” she said, calling homosexuality “biblically wrong.”

But retiree Charles Helms said he doesn’t care if the Knights fly the flag.

“If he wants to fly that thing, let him fly it,” Helms said. “I don’t have a problem at all because I know the story behind it.”

The Knights say they have no problems with homosexuals, but they have never taken a role in the gay rights movement. They moved to Meade two years ago from Southern California to pursue their dream of operating a bed-and-breakfast.

The Knights say the anger displayed by some residents has strengthened their resolve to keep the rainbow flag flying.

Flying the flag not only protests discrimination, they say, but they also believe giving into the pressure would send the wrong message to their son, Anthony.

“It’s our business. It shouldn’t be dictated by other people,” Robin Knight said.

So, when someone cut away the flag last week, leaving behind only tattered corners, the Knights quickly ordered two more, and said more will be coming to replace any others that might be destroyed.

New Bedford, Mass. (AP) – The state has dismissed allegations by a gay man who said he was physically and verbally abused by paramedics who delayed his treatment after he was shot and attacked with a hatchet at a gay bar.

In a report issued on Aug. 8, the Executive Office of Health and Human Services ruled that a complaint by Robert Perry about a delay in treatment was “invalid,” saying it could not substantiate his allegations.

Perry, 53, said he was “very disappointed” by the ruling, and added: “The truth didn’t come out.”

Perry was one of three men seriously injured when 18-year-old Jacob Robida went on a rampage in February at the Puzzles Lounge. Perry was shot through the shoulder and struck on the head with a hatchet, which made a 4 1/2-inch gash and broke his cheekbone.

Robida killed two people in Arkansas while fleeing authorities, then fatally shot himself after a police chase.

Perry, who is a paramedic, said his treatment was delayed, he was told to shut up and an oxygen mask was smashed into his face “as punishment.” He said he was poorly treated because he’s a gay man who was attacked at a known gay bar.

The state found it couldn’t determine whether Perry’s transport was delayed “due to conflicting reports, especially with regard to what time the actual events took place.” The state also said it is “unable to make a determination” whether he was assaulted.

NEW YORK, N.Y. (AP) – A minister in New York said billboards he paid for displaying a Bible verse that condemned homosexual behavior were removed after the president of the Staten Island borough called the message intolerant, offensive and unwelcome.

The Rev. Kristopher Okwedy’s lawsuit against the former official was heard Aug. 8 by a three-judge federal panel.

Okwedy’s attorney, Stephen Crampton of the American Family Association, said the case highlights the conflict between gay rights and the right of Christians to publicly quote Bible passages that declare such behavior sinful.

Crampton predicts that the issue will ultimately be decided by the U.S. Supreme Court.

PHILADELPHIA, Penn. (AP) – Health officials yanked public service advertisements urging HIV testing after a gay advocacy group expressed concerns about images depicting young black men in a gun’s cross hairs.

“Putting the face of a black man in the cross hairs of a gun paints a damaging message about violence and black men,” Lee Carson, chair of the Black Gay Men’s Leadership Council, wrote in a letter to the city’s interim health commissioner last month.

The $236,000 campaign, which ended abruptly on Aug. 7, was geared at gay and bisexual men and featured the tagline, “Have YOU been hit?”

“Given the violence perpetrated against gay men, it is not farfetched to see how this campaign fosters violence,” Carson wrote to interim Health Commissioner Carmen Paris.

Paris said she “inherited” the campaign and only recently saw the ads. She added, “The right thing to do, of course, is not to promote any message that could be perceived as promoting violence.”

The campaign was launched May 19 with ads on buses, television, postcards and a Web site. The ads were no longer posted on the Web site as of Aug. 8.

Zigzag Net Inc., the Philadelphia-based marketing company that developed the campaign, spent months setting up two focus groups to evaluate the most effective themes.

“We are aware of objections to the campaign,” project manager Aaron McLean said. “However, we acted under the explicit direction of the city Health Department. The response in the focus groups was very positive.”

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) – Richard Hatch, who won the $1 million prize on the debut season of “Survivor,” says he’s finding it difficult to adjust to life in prison.

Hatch, 45, of Newport, R.I., was convicted by a federal jury in January of failing to pay taxes on the prize and other income. He was sentenced in May to 51 months in prison by a judge who said the openly gay reality TV star had repeatedly lied on the witness stand.

He arrived at the minimum-security facility in Morgantown on July 25.

Hatch, who became known as the “fat naked guy” for refusing to wear clothes on the CBS show, is now required to wear khaki shirts and pants.

“I’m doing lots of intake stuff, like clothing and getting to know the place … but I don’t think I will adjust to any of this until I can prove I was unethically prosecuted,” he told The Dominion Post during a phone interview on Aug. 9.

Hatch said he will be tutoring inmates, helping them to earn their GEDs and hone their job-hunting skills.

“Sure, people know my name … there are 1,300-plus inmates who think they know me, so it’s an interesting experience,” he

said.