CHICAGO (AP) – Lambda Legal filed a discrimination complaint Dec. 13 against a suburban school district and its board, saying they fired the former superintendent because he is openly gay.

Bremen High School District 228 has insisted Rich Mitchell was fired last month for other reasons, including a joke video that portrayed teachers as killers, strippers and drug users.

Members of the school board “tried to keep Rich Mitchell from being hired because he is gay, and when they failed to do that, they stopped him from doing his job – all at the expense of the students of Bremen,” Lambda staff attorney James P. Madigan said in a statement.

The complaint by Lambda Legal, a gay rights organization, with the Cook County Human Rights Commission accuses the district, board of education and school board president with sexual orientation discrimination.

Ray Hauser, an attorney representing the district, has called the discrimination allegation “ridiculous,” and said Mitchell was fired for poor leadership. He did not immediately return a telephone call from The Associated Press.

Mitchell, 42, had been superintendent since 2004 and was fired last month after a 4-2 vote.

In the video, Mitchell took videotaped interviews with new teachers and spliced in his own gag questions. He first aired the video for a back-to-school seminar. Later, a link to the video appeared on the district’s Web site.

The commission will send a formal request for more information to the parties named in the complaint, then they’ll have 30 days to respond, said Human Rights Commission Director Jennifer Vidis.

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) – Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback, among the most conservative of the potential Republican presidential candidates, says there is room in the GOP for candidates who favor gay rights, but he warned that such politicians wouldn’t be welcomed by the party’s conservative base.

“It’s a big tent party and has been for a long period of time, particularly since Ronald Reagan talked about this being a party of different viewpoints,” Brownback said. “If somebody agrees with you 80 percent of the time, he’s not your enemy.”

Brownback, in the midst of another visit to Iowa, was asked about criticism that Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney was getting from conservatives about his writings years ago that suggested he backed gay rights.

While there is room in the party for such candidates, they will face a tough sell with conservatives focused on social and religious issues, said Brownback, who hopes to base his bid for the GOP nomination on such voters.

Asked if favoring gay rights would doom a candidate in the GOP primary season, Brownback said: “I don’t know about that. I mean, where are you on taxes? The base of the party is issue-oriented and issue-driven, so those are significant things.”

Brownback said it is far too early to dismiss candidates because of their views on such volatile issues as gay rights.

BALTIMORE, Md. (AP) – A Kansas church has been ordered to pay $3,150 for costs and fees associated with a summons and complaint filed by the father of a Marine whose funeral was picketed by the extremist group.

Albert Snyder, of York, Pa., is suing the Rev. Fred Phelps and Westboro Baptist Church after church members demonstrated at the funeral of Lance Cpl. Matthew Snyder, of Westminster, and posted pictures of the protest on their Web site.

Lance Snyder was killed in Iraq in March. Members of the Topeka church claim U.S. soldiers are killed as God’s punishment for America’s tolerance of homosexuality.

His father’s federal 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 and the church refused to grant a waiver in the serving of summonses in connection with the federal lawsuit, making the church liable for those costs.

Court documents say the church has 30 days to make the payment to Snyder.

NEW YORK (AP) – An AIDS organization is launching an advertising campaign that says Pfizer Inc.’s marketing of Viagra encourages recreational use of the drug, which fosters the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV.

The AIDS Healthcare Foundation began its campaign on Dec. 13 by taking out a full-page ad in the Village Voice, an alternative weekly in New York. The ad will also appear this week in LA Weekly and the New York Blade.

Ads will also eventually be placed in publications in South Florida and San Francisco, according to the foundation which, provides health care to AIDS patients as well as education and prevention advice about the disease.

The ads show a picture of a prescription pad which contains the message that Viagra combined with crystal methamphetamine creates a prescription for HIV infection. It says that crystal methamphetamine makes it difficult to get and keep an erection, but Viagra makes it possible to maintain an erection while on the illegal drug.

Lori Yeghiayan, a spokesperson for the foundation, said that Pfizer’s marketing treats Viagra as a tool to improve one’s sex life instead of a drug for a medical condition.

In a statement, Pfizer said that it has always been committed to safe and appropriate use of Viagra and that the product’s label clearly states that it does not protect against sexually transmitted diseases.

AMBRIDGE (AP) – The members of a student club for gay and lesbian students at Ambridge Area High School said they have been the target of teasing, and attitudes about gays and lesbians are getting worse not better.

High School senior Daniel Zak said there have been more remarks and jokes directed toward members of the Gay-Straight Alliance and their friends since the club was formed in October.

The group was founded by senior Adam Smith, who says the mission of the club is to promote diversity and confront discrimination and homophobia.

At a school board meeting on Dec. 14, Principal Alan Fritz said the group is just like any other student club at the school and should be treated the same.

Board member Brian Padgett suggested that the entire student body participate in diversity training if they are targeting those who are different from them.

WASHINGTON (AP) – President Bush says he is happy for Mary Cheney, the openly gay daughter of Vice President Dick Cheney, who revealed earlier this month that she is pregnant.

“I think Mary is going to be a loving soul to her child,” Bush said in an interview with People magazine. “And I’m happy for her.”

Bush was asked about Mary Cheney’s pregnancy in light of his previous statements that a child ideally should be raised in a family headed by a married father and mother.

White House press secretary Tony Snow said on Dec. 15 that Bush has not changed his mind.

“But he also believes that every human life is sacred and that every child who comes into this world deserves love,” Snow said.

“And he believes that Mary Cheney’s child will, in fact, have loving parents.”

Asked if Bush believes that children who are raised by gay and lesbian parents are at a disadvantage, Snow said, “He does not make comments on that and nor will I.”

Mary Cheney, 37, and her partner of 15 years, Heather Poe, 45, are expecting a baby in late spring.

A number of conservative groups have expressed dismay at Cheney’s pregnancy.

WASHINGTON (AP) – San Francisco was named the top “gay-friendly” destination in a new survey of gay and lesbian travelers conducted by the Travel Industry Association.

Following San Francisco on the list’s top 10 were Key West, Fla.; New York City; Fire Island, which is part of Long Island in New York; Provincetown, Mass.; Los Angeles; Miami-South Beach, Fla.; Las Vegas; New Orleans and Palm Springs-Palm Desert.

The national survey was conducted by the Travel Industry Association in partnership with Harris Interactive and Witeck-Combs Communications.

Nearly half of gay and lesbian travelers said that whether a destination has a gay-friendly reputation matters when they are making leisure travel choices.

A place where “they can hold their partner’s hand in public” without fear of harassment was cited as an example of something that more than half of gay men and more than two-thirds of lesbians look for when they are choosing a destination, according to the survey.

Bob Witeck, CEO of Witeck-Combs Communications, said the survey showed that gay and lesbian travelers are not looking for special treatment, but are simply “expecting consideration and equal respect given all customers.”

Four out of 10 gay and lesbian travelers also said they consider a destination gay-friendly if it “is known to be culturally welcoming and to support diversity” and gay rights.

Only a third of gay men and 18 percent of lesbians cited “gay nightlife, gay clubs and bars” among their top considerations for gay friendliness.

The national online survey was conducted among 2,020 self-identified gay and lesbian travelers 21 and older who have taken at least one leisure trip within the past 12 months.