TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) – The University of Arizona’s first fraternity geared toward gay men has received its national charter.

Delta Lambda Phi, which completed rush this month, is not exclusively for gay men. Membership is also open to men who are bisexual.

“We were one of the fastest charters in history because we were dedicated to this,” said Christopher Newman, 23, a senior education major and founding member.

UA is now one of a few schools in the nation with Greek letter organizations geared toward lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students.

Members said they had a variety of reasons for wanting to form a gay fraternity.

Some didn’t feel comfortable pledging with other fraternities on campus. Others said the fraternity is the preferred way to meet like-minded peers in a close community.

“The troubles, the hardship – anything we go through, we participate together,” said Larry Muth, 20, the fraternity’s secretary.

LOS ANGELES (AP) – The Internal Revenue Service has ordered a prominent liberal church to turn over documents and e-mails it produced during the 2004 election year that contain references to political candidates.

The IRS is investigating whether All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena violated the federal tax code when its former rector, the Rev. George F. Regas, delivered an anti-war sermon on the eve of the last presidential election.

Tax-exempt organizations are barred from intervening in political campaigns and elections, and the church could lose its tax-exempt status.

The Rev. Ed Bacon received a summons Sept. 14 ordering the church to present any politically charged sermons, newsletters and electronic communications by Sept 29.

Bacon was ordered to testify before IRS officials Oct. 11. He said he will inform his roughly 3,500 congregants about the investigation at the services, and will seek their advice on whether to comply.

“There is a lot at stake here,” Bacon said. “If the IRS prevails, it will have a chilling effect on the practice of religion in America.”

An IRS spokesperson declined comment on the investigation.

In a sermon two days before the 2004 election, Regas did not urge parishioners to support President Bush or challenger John Kerry but was critical of the Iraq war and Bush’s tax cuts, Bacon said in an interview last November when the investigation was announced.

“He explicitly said, ‘I am not telling you how to vote.’ That is the golden boundary we did not cross,” he said.

All Saints has a long history of social activism, dating back to World War II, when its rector spoke out against the internment of Japanese Americans. Regas, who headed the church for 28 years before retiring in 1995, was well known for opposing the Vietnam War, championing female clergy and supporting gays and lesbians in the church.

The IRS has revoked a church’s charitable designation at least once. A church in Binghamton, N.Y., lost its status after running advertisements against Bill Clinton’s candidacy before the 1992 presidential election.

WESTMINISTER, Md. (AP) – A church whose members show up at military funerals claiming God is killing troops in Iraq to punish the nation for its tolerance of homosexuality is asking that a defamation lawsuit be dismissed on the grounds that they are merely expressing an opinion.

“There can be no falsehood when mere opinions are stated,” attorneys for the Westboro Baptist Church said Sept. 18 in a motion filed in U.S. District Court.

Albert Snyder, of York, Pa. is suing the Rev. Fred Phelps and his Topeka, Kan.-based church after church members demonstrated at the funeral of Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, and posted pictures of the protest on their Web site. Cpl. Snyder was killed in March. Snyder’s lawsuit, filed June 5, alleges church members violated the family’s right to privacy and defamed the Marine and his family at the funeral and on the church’s Web site.

Phelps has denied any wrongdoing.

Sean Summers, an attorney for Snyder, says that unlike a rally in a park where First Amendment speech is protected, funeral-goers were a “captive audience,” forced to listen and see the protest.

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) – The newly released memoir by openly gay former Gov. James E. McGreevey, who left office amid a sex scandal, recorded strong sales following the first of his several television appearances to promote the tell-all book.

Released last week, The Confession ranked No. 5 on both amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com the following day.

The book includes explicit details of his relationship with an Israeli man, which McGreevey says began when he was governor and a brand new father. The man, Golan Cipel, says he is not gay and has claimed McGreevey sexually harassed him.

McGreevey had appointed the Israeli to a sensitive state homeland security post, but Cipel resigned in 2002 after reporters found his qualifications were suspect.

McGreevey’s taped appearance on Oprah Winfrey’s show aired Sept. 19. It was followed the next day by an interview on NBC’s “Today,” and visits to ABC’s “The View” and “Hannity & Colmes” on FOX News.

In the New York area, the Winfrey show with McGreevey had 692,000 total viewers, 8 percent higher than the Sept. 18 season premiere and 26 percent better than the show’s average viewership in September 2005, according to King World Productions, which distributes the show.

McGreevey, a one-time Woodbridge mayor who rose to become New Jersey’s top elected official, stunned the nation when he announced in August 2004 that he was a “gay American” and would leave office three months later.

McGreevey, 49, is still in the process of divorcing his second wife. He now lives with Australian-born financier Mark O’Donnell in Plainfield.

NEW YORK (AP) – Amnesty International examined relations between police and gays and lesbians in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles and San Antonio in a report last year. Each police department was credited with improving relations, but Amnesty said significant problems persisted.

Chicago police have appointed liaison officers in precincts with large gay populations and introduced late-night bike patrols to reduce anti-gay assaults. Activists still fault police dealings with homeless gay youths, but they credit authorities with good intentions.

“Historically, the Chicago Police Department’s reputation has been a rough, tough, discipline-only approach,” said gay alderman Tom Tunney, who represents the Lakeview district. “Here, the community has been demanding, and getting, a much better response.”

New York police officials say their department has had at least one full-time liaison with the gay community for two decades, and now has three, including a gay detective who reports directly to the police commissioner. Chief spokesperson Paul Browne said Amnesty unfairly criticized the department based on unsubstantiated allegations of harassment of transgender prostitutes.

In Los Angeles, “things have improved drastically over the last 15 years, but there’s a long way to go,” said Roger Coggan, legal services director at the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center.

“We don’t have blatant discrimination, but if you’re an effeminate gay man or a transgender immigrant, you’re not going to be treated with the same respect as if you’re a middle class gay or lesbian,” Coggan said.

In San Antonio, as Amnesty was investigating in 2004, the police chief appointed Capt. Larry Birney as liaison to the gay community.

“My phone rings three to four times a week – people with concerns, questions, allegations of harassment…” Birney said. “Those that are facts, we investigate.”

The department also permitted three activists to examine curriculum used to teach new officers about gay issues and to attend training classes. Lynne Armstrong, one of the activists, said the effort is far from complete but “they’ve been most open and gracious to receiving us.”

PROVO, Utah (AP) – A former Brigham Young University professor who was not rehired after criticizing the Mormon church’s stand against same-sex marriage has found work at two colleges.

Jeffrey Nielsen said he’s teaching critical thinking, philosophy and ethics at Westminster College in Salt Lake City and Utah Valley State College in Orem.

Nielsen’s June 4 opinion piece in The Salt Lake Tribune opposed the Mormon church’s call for a constitutional ban on same-sex marriage. In response, BYU, which is operated by the church, said it would not renew his contract.

Nielsen said, “The church is losing out on a wonderful source of strength by denying gays and lesbians full active faith and fellowship.”

RUTLAND, Vt. (AP) – A Rutland Family Court judge will decide after a hearing whether to penalize a Virginia woman who failed to comply with a child-custody ruling that grew out of the breakup of her civil union.

More than two years ago, Judge William Cohen found Lisa Miller-Jenkins in contempt of court for failing to comply with his order granting temporary visitation to Janet Miller-Jenkins of Fair Haven, her former partner.

Following that ruling, Lisa Miller-Jenkins argued the case should be heard in Virginia.

Last month, the Vermont Supreme Court rejected her argument and sent the case back to Family Court, saying Vermont has exclusive jurisdiction.

“The Vermont Supreme Court was specific in its remand on the contempt finding of this court to impose a penalty, and that needs to be addressed,” Cohen said in court Sept. 19.

Cohen did not set a date for the hearing, although he said he would like to schedule it within the next month or two.

Cohen said he would delay the hearing until after the Supreme Court rules on a motion by Lisa Miller-Jenkins’ attorneys asking the high court to reconsider its August ruling.

The attorney for Janet Miller-Jenkins, Theodore Parisi of Castleton, said after the hearing that he was not sure what penalty he would ask the court to impose.

Lisa Miller-Jenkins’ Vermont attorney, Judy Barone, said she didn’t know if her client would attend a Vermont hearing.

The women left Virginia and went to Vermont in 2000 to get a civil union. They returned home, where Lisa was artificially inseminated and gave birth to a baby girl, Isabella. Later they moved to Vermont, where they lived together a little more than a year before splitting.