PHOENIX (AP) – National restaurant chain The Cheesecake Factory Inc. has agreed to pay $345,000 to settle a federal lawsuit alleging it let some male employees sexually harass other male workers in suburban Phoenix.

The settlement announced Tuesday by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission includes a requirement that the company train its employees and managers about sexual harassment.

The EEOC lawsuit alleged company managers knew about repeated sexual assaults against six male employees by a group of male kitchen staffers at a restaurant in Chandler, Ariz., but did not intervene. The EEOC says the company denied the allegations.

Messages seeking comment from the company, based in Calabasas, Calif., were not immediately returned.

LOS ANGELES (AP) – The Police Commission has voted to cut the Los Angeles Police Department’s ties with an organization linked to Boy Scouts of America, which bars gays, atheists and agnostics from being troop leaders.

The organization, Learning for Life, was spun off from Boy Scouts of America, and runs the LAPD’s Explorer program for teenagers interested in law enforcement careers.

The Police Commission also voted Tuesday to support a proposal for the department to run the Explorer program itself using donations, but no decision was made about starting a new youth program.

Officials said the Boy Scouts policy is “inconsistent” with the city’s policy of non-discrimination.

Learning for Life officials say the organization does not discriminate and does not take funds from the Boy Scouts.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) – Conservative Christian group Focus on the Family donated just over $115,000 to the fight against same-sex marriage in Maine.

On Tuesday, voters in the state backed repealing a law allowing same-sex marriage that had passed the Legislature and signed by the governor.

Focus on the Family also was involved in the fight in Washington State over a law expanding rights for same-sex couples through civil unions. The Colorado Springs-based group gave $91,000 to the campaign opposing that measure, which voters approved.

Tom Minnery, senior vice president of Focus Action, the group’s political arm, said it would have donated more were it not for Washington’s campaign finance limits.

In Maine, Focus’ total donation was $115,266.

CHICAGO – The nation’s largest doctors’ group has agreed to join efforts to repeal the military’s ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy.

The American Medical Association also voted to declare that gay marriage bans contribute to health disparities for gay couples and their children.

Both gay-rights policies were adopted Tuesday at the AMA’s interim policy meeting in Houston.

The AMA says the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law creates an ethical dilemma for gay service members and the doctors who treat them.

The other measure declares that marriage bans leave gays vulnerable to being excluded from health care benefits, including health insurance and family and medical leave rights. The new AMA policy stops short of opposing the bans.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – State officials are urging black residents and other minorities to learn more about HIV and AIDS and get tested for the virus.

The state Department of Health, the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration and the Indiana Minority Health Coalition are holding a Statewide HIV Awareness Program Thursday in Indianapolis.

State Health Commissioner Judy Monroe says African-Americans are diagnosed with HIV at an alarming rate. She says blacks and other minority residents must realize they have the power to prevent the spread of the diseases.

In 2008, Indiana had 513 newly reported cases of HIV and AIDS. Nearly 42 percent of those new diagnoses were among black residents, who make up less than 10 percent of the state’s population.

Albany, NY (AP) – After weeks of uncertainty and pleas by Gov. David Paterson, New York’s Senate isn’t expected to take up a bill that would legalize same-sex marriage.

Speaking after the Democratic majority met behind closed doors, Sen. Neil Breslin of Albany County says flatly there won’t be a vote on the bill. Sen. David Valesky of central New York also says it appears the bill won’t get to a long-awaited vote during a special session Tuesday.

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Thomas Duane of Manhattan, refused to comment even on whether he wants the bill to get to the floor, where approval is uncertain.

Sen. Martin Malave Dilan of Brooklyn says the measure could still come up later in the day, but it wasn’t scheduled for the initial meeting of the Senate.

NEW YORK (AP) – New York City officials are investigating a gay couple’s claim that a cab driver threw them out of his taxi for hugging.

The Commission on Human Rights and the Taxi & Limousine Commission are looking into the complaint about an incident Monday in Manhattan.

Paul Bruno said the driver pulled over two blocks into the ride and told them to get out.

Bruno said the driver told them hugging wasn’t allowed.

Driver Medhat Mohamed told the New York Post in the Nov. 5 edition that things were heating up, and that was distracting him. He said he’d treat a heterosexual couple the same.

If it’s determined Mohamed refused service on the basis of sexual orientation, he could face fines, suspension and or loss of his taxi license.

NEW YORK (AP) – Former Miss California USA Carrie Prejean calls a sex tape she made for an ex-boyfriend several years ago “the biggest mistake of my life.”

Prejean told Fox News on Monday and NBC’s “Today” show on Tuesday that she shot the X-rated video of herself alone when she was 17 and sent it to a boyfriend.

The 22-year-old tells NBC: “It was for private use, but does that justify what I did? No. It was the biggest mistake of my life.”

Prejean was fired in June. She believes she lost her crown because of her opposition to gay marriage. Pageant organizers said she was skipping official events.

Earlier this month, Prejean and organizers reached a confidential settlement. She tells NBC that she has suffered “a campaign against me to try to silence me.”

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) – Organizers of a petition drive to ask the Mormon church to reconsider its policies and political activism against same-sex marriage are set to deliver the documents to church headquarters.

The Foundation for Reconciliation has collected more than 2,000 signatures on the petition which has been circulating online since June.

About 50 people are expected to deliver the petition to the offices of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Wednesday.

Organizer Cheryl Nunn of Santa Cruz, Calif., says the petition is a reaction to the Salt Lake City-based church’s support for Proposition 8, a 2008 ballot initiative that banned same-sex marriage in California.

The foundation is made up of current and former church members.