SANTA ROSA (AP) – A Sonoma County judge ruled Tuesday that a Mormon high school student who sued after being disciplined and then mercilessly teased for using the phrase “That’s so gay” was not entitled to monetary damages.

Superior Court Judge Elaine Rushing said that while she sympathized with 18-year-old Rebekah Rice for the ridicule she experienced at Maria Carrillo High School, her lawyers had failed to prove that school administrators had violated any state laws or singled the girl out for punishment.

“All of us have probably felt at some time that we were unfairly punished by a callous teacher, or picked on and teased by boorish and uncaring bullies. Unfortunately, this is part of what teenagers endure in becoming adults,” the judge wrote in a 20-page ruling. “The law, with all its majesty and might, is simply too crude and imprecise an instrument to satisfactorily soothe deeply hurt feelings.”

The case filed by Rice and her parents in 2003 brought widespread attention to a three-word phrase that some teenagers use to mean “stupid” or “uncool,” but has come under attack as an insensitive insult to gay people, young and old.

The Rices argued that a teacher at Maria Carrillo High violated Rebekah Rice’s First Amendment rights by sending her to the principal’s office and putting a note in her school file. During a trial in February, Rebekah Rice testified she said “That’s so gay,” as a response to other students asking her rude questions about her Mormon upbringing.

Rushing said the school district was not liable for monetary damages because the law under which the Rices brought the lawsuit specifically excludes schools. In addition, she said that school officials are given wide latitude in deciding how to enforce non-discrimination provisions of the state education code.

“The decision to impose graduated discipline on Rebekah is one that falls squarely within the discretion of the defendants,” the judge wrote, adding that it didn’t make sense to have the referral stricken from the girl’s school record since she graduated last year.

The lawsuit also accused the public high school of having a double-standard because, they say, administrators never sought to shield Rebekah from teasing based on Mormon stereotypes. It further alleged the Rices were singled out because of the family’s conservative views on sexuality.

In Tuesday’s opinion, Rushing rejected each claim, going so far as to suggest that the Rices had created a miserable situation for Rebekah by advertising their dissatisfaction with the school’s handling of the incident during her freshman year.

“If the Rice family had not told everyone that Rebekah had been given a referral for saying ‘That’s so gay’ then no one else would have known it either, and she would not have been referred to as the ‘That’s so gay girl,’” the judge wrote.

Neither the Rices nor their lawyer returned telephone calls seeking comment from The Associated Press.

Rushing concluded her ruling by saying that even if the judicial branch could not help in this case, the Rices have other options, including running for school board or lobbying to change state laws.

“Through their many activities at their children’s schools, plaintiffs have generated a great deal of dialogue about the extent to which our schools should become involved in traditionally non-academic subjects such as morality, religion, sexuality and politics,” she said.

DENVER (AP) –Theatre Group, Colorado’s only primarily gay theater company, was evicted from its longtime home at 13 S. Broadway on Wednesday, and former executive director Steven Tangedal is being sued for $18,889 in unpaid rent. A hearing is set for Tuesday in Denver District Court.

Tangedal resigned in March and has since “dropped off the face of the Earth,” said Shelly Bordas, a 12-year company member who has made it her singular purpose to resurrect and reinvent this once-proud 35-year-old company.

“It’s not looking good,” Bordas admits, but she still has hope. And she’s appealing to audiences, actors and community leaders to come forward and help her. Dozens showed up at Theatre On Broadway for a recent informational pep rally, and Bordas is convinced that more will come out of the woodwork once they are assured Tangedal is out of the picture for good.

“There is a lot of good energy and enthusiasm for what we are trying to do, but it all comes down to money,” she said.

How much? About $25,000.

Bordas’ dream is to form a new non-profit that will continue to produce plays that cater to the gay community, while also opening up the facility to secondary tenants including her own Acting Up, a company for kids; the Vintage Theatre; and the Rocky Mountain Theatre for Kids, which targets teens.

Bordas is not legally responsible for any of Tangedal’s present debt, but neither does she own the company’s equipment or assets. And the eviction was not her only setback last week. She also was informed that the same landlord suing Tangedal for back rent, Peterson Equities of Loveland, is willing to give her a fresh start with a new lease. But it asks for $6,200 a month – a bump of $1,000 over the present price.

Bordas will meet with Jeff Peterson this week, hoping to negotiate a break. But if a deal can’t be made, she said, it’s over – and tenants like the Vintage, who are planning to perform at Theatre On Broadway this summer, could be out of luck.

SPRINGFIELD (AP) – Drury University will offer full benefits for partners of gay and lesbian faculty and staff, the first university to do so in Missouri’s third largest city.

The private liberal arts school, with about 1,600 full-time undergraduate students decided to update its benefits package in line with many other small and mid-size colleges and universities nationally, with whom it competes for professors and staff, spokesperson Bill Noblitt said Thursday.

Noblitt said he was not aware of any criticism from outside the university, which is located in a socially conservative corner of the state.

Same-sex partner benefits are not offered by Greene County, the city of Springfield or the state of Missouri. Missouri State University and Evangel University, the city’s other two largest schools, also do not offer those benefits.

“We look at this as an affirmation of the worth of all people who work here. We did it because it’s the right thing to do,” Noblitt said.

Drury’s board approved the change Friday, extending the same benefits to gay and lesbian partners as those enjoyed by the spouses of married heterosexual faculty and staff.

Noblitt said the idea originated with the university’s benefits committee, which argued that many other schools in the same league as Drury were extending similar benefits. It is also increasingly common among large corporations, he said.

Starting June 1, partners of gay and lesbian faculty and staff will be eligible for medical and dental coverage, tuition assistance, fitness center privileges, library privileges, the university’s tax saving plan and coverage under the federal Family Medical Leave Act.

Nationally, four states extend such benefits to their state employees – Washington, Vermont, California and Hawaii.

Nationally, four states extend such benefits to their state employees – Washington, Vermont, California and Hawaii.

COLUMBUS (AP) – A same-sex marriage ban placed in Ohio’s Constitution during the 2004 presidential election would make it difficult for the state to outlaw discrimination in the workplace based on sexual orientation or gender identity, the governor and his top lawyer said Thursday.

Strickland, a Democrat, made his comments after signing an executive order that bans such discrimination against employees of the state government agencies, boards and commissions he controls. He said any bill that would extend similar protections to the private sector runs the risk of being unconstitutional.

“If legislation is crafted in such a way that is consistent with our constitution, I would be a strong supporter of that legislation,” Strickland said.

Kent Markus, the governor’s chief legal counsel, said the 2004 ban – credited with helping deliver the bellwether state to President Bush that year – places broadly restrictive wording in the constitution that other states with anti-discrimination laws don’t face.

“You’d have to see whether there is some argument that someone can craft that the [anti-discrimination] proposal ‘approximates marriage’ – that’s one of the terms within the constitutional provision – and whether something that you’re doing conflicts with the provision that precludes that,” he said.

Lynne Bowman, executive director of the gay rights group Equality Ohio, said marriage and employment are in no way linked in the Ohio Constitution. She said a bill is being prepared that would extend anti-discrimination to the private sector and wants the governor to support it.

“The governor certainly took a step forward today in protecting over 60,000 state workers,” she said. “Now we have 11 million other people in Ohio who deserve the same protections.”

GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) – The FBI is investigating whether a man killed after he was punched outside a bar was targeted because he was gay, authorities said.

Sean William Kennedy, 20, fell to the ground after he was hit in the face, likely striking his head on the pavement or a curb early Wednesday morning, Greenville County deputies said.

A witness said a man stepped out of a car, punched Kennedy while saying something about his sexual orientation, then got back in the car and left, sheriff’s spokesperson Master Deputy Michael Hildebrand said.

Hildebrand would not release what the man told Kennedy, but did say deputies have asked the FBI to see if the case could be prosecuted as a hate crime.

Stephen Andrew Moller, 18, turned himself in Thursday and was charged with murder, Hildebrand said.

He remained in the Greenville County jail Friday afternoon awaiting a bond hearing. Prosecutors couldn’t immediately be reached to determine if he had an attorney.

The bar was having a teen night when the incident occurred, authorities said.