ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – The mayor’s unity dinner in Anchorage wraps up diversity month in the city, but it’s not making everyone happy.

The union for Anchorage restaurant and hotel workers planned to picket the Friday night event at the downtown Hilton, and gays are holding an alternative event.

The union is urging a boycott of the hotel in a labor dispute.

“The mayor is not honoring the wishes of the diverse work force that works in this hotel,” said Amarjeet Chhabra, spokeswoman for Unite Here Local 878. The union represents about 200 Hilton workers.

The mayor’s office told The Anchorage Daily News it didn’t have time to find another location.

Orlando Paraoan, president of the Alaska Federation of Filipino Americans, has mixed feelings about the dinner, considering his group canceled a Saturday banquet at the Hilton to show support for the union and its Filipino workers. But the federation’s former president will be inside the hotel as a guest speaker.

Meanwhile, about two dozen people with gay and lesbian groups canceled their part at the mayor’s dinner to go to the “true diversity dinner” at a restaurant two blocks away.

They are unhappy with Mayor Dan Sullivan’s veto in August of an ordinance that would have banned discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Sullivan said he hadn’t seen clear evidence that discrimination exists and that the majority of people who contacted him opposed the change.

Supporters of the “true diversity dinner” have also criticized the keynote speaker for the city dinner. Lynn Swann, a Hall of Fame NFL player and former Republican candidate for governor in Pennsylvania, will headline the event after appearing at a fundraiser for the state Republican party.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – A group is pushing ahead with a campaign to repeal California’s same-sex marriage ban, even though some other gay rights organizations say it is too soon for another expensive ballot fight.

Los Angeles-based Love Honor Cherish proposed ballot language on Thursday to strike the ban approved by state voters in November as Proposition 8.

The new initiative says religious institutions would not be required to perform same-sex unions if it conflicts with their beliefs.

Submitting wording to the California attorney general is the first step in qualifying a measure for an election.

Once the language is approved, supporters would have until mid-April to gather the signatures needed to put the initiative on the November 2010 ballot

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – A federal judge is considering whether to order the sponsors of California’s voter-approved gay marriage ban to produce their internal campaign records to lawyers now suing to overturn the law.

U.S. District Chief Judge Vaughn Walker in San Francisco heard arguments Friday from lawyers seeking the information, including strategy memos and e-mails between top campaign officials.

The attorneys are challenging Proposition 8, saying it denies equality to gay couples in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

Arguing for the Proposition 8 campaign, lawyer Charles Cooper says the discussions were meant to be private. He says making them public would violate free speech rights and possibly subject Proposition 8’s supporters to harassment.

The judge is expected to rule on the issue next week.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – An attorney for an Indiana woman who entered into a same-sex marriage in Canada says she plans to appeal a court’s refusal to grant the couple a divorce.

A Marion Superior Court judge earlier this month dismissed the couple’s request for divorce, ruling that state law doesn’t give courts the authority to dissolve same-sex marriages. Same-sex marriages are illegal in Indiana.

Larissa Chism and Tara Ranzy lived in Pennsylvania at the time of their 2005 marriage but had since moved to South Bend. Ranzy asked Indianapolis attorney Karen Jensen to handle the divorce that involved no children.

Jensen said Sunday that Ranzy had authorized her to appeal the court ruling.

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) – There’s a new political advertisement regarding same-sex marriages in Maine.

This one is from the “No On One” camp, which supports same-sex marriage.

The campaign manager for “No On One/ Protect Maine Equality” says the ad addresses alleged “lies” and “distortions” made by their opponents, Stand For Marriage Maine, who are claiming that if gay marriage is legalized, the subject will be taught to Maine children in schools.

Voters will decide on Nov. 3 whether to appeal a new law legalizing same-sex marriages in the state.

DULUTH, Minn. (AP) – A Duluth man accused of knowingly exposing his girlfriend to the AIDS virus without telling her has pleaded guilty in what may be the first case of its kind in Minnesota.

Thirty-nine-year-old Jessie Allen Tuff pleaded guilty Tuesday in St. Louis County to one misdemeanor charge of the “knowing transfer of communicable disease.” He will be sentenced Oct. 27.

Duluth City Attorney Cary Schmies says he believes this is the first such case in Minnesota.

Earlier this month, the woman had still tested negative for the virus. Schmies says if the woman had contracted HIV, Tuff likely would’ve faced a more serious charge.

Tuff is in custody. His attorney had no comment.

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – A state lawmaker who described homosexuality as a greater threat to the United States than terrorism will face a transgendered attorney in her next race for the state House.

Democrat Brittany Novotny announced Sunday she will try to unseat Republican Rep. Sally Kern from the House District 84 seat in northwest Oklahoma City.

Kern made national headlines in 2008 when she said the “homosexual agenda” is destroying the U.S. Earlier this year, she launched a campaign for a morality proclamation that criticizes the government for drifting from traditional Christian values.

Novotny says she wants the campaign to be about issues and not her personal decision to become a woman.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) – A billboard featuring a gay marine that was part of a campaign for National Coming Out Day next month was ripped to shreds by vandals.

WMC-TV reports the Memphis billboard had pictured a gay marine and read, “I’m gay and I protected your freedom.”

It was destroyed Friday night.

Police have not said whether thre are suspects in custody.

The Memphis Gay and Lesbian Community Center plans to rally against the vandalism.

National Coming Out Day takes place annually on October 11. Its purpose is to promote understanding of issues affecting the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered community in the Mid-South.

ROANOKE, Va. (AP) – A Roanoke church has taken the first step toward leaving the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America over allowing gays and lesbian clergy.

St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church says more than 70 percent of its voting members favored the decision. A second vote is expected in January because it takes a two-thirds majority to separate.

The decision came in response to a decision by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America last month concerning gay clergy. The organization decided to allow gays and lesbians involved in committed relationships to serve as clergy.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (AP) – Two openly gay members of Congress on Sept. 23 urged their colleagues to pass a sweeping job discrimination bill that would – for the first time – protect gays and transsexuals from workplace bias.

The testimony from Reps. Barney Frank, D-Mass., and Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., comes as supporters of the measure believe Congress is closer than ever to banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Frank told the House Education and Labor Committee that opponents of the bill often accuse the gay rights community of pushing a “radical agenda.”

Twenty-one states already ban employment discrimination based on sexual orientation, and 12 states also prohibit discrimination based on gender identity.