SANTA ANA, Calif. (AP) – A federal judge in Southern California has dismissed on a technicality a same-sex marriage lawsuit that created a rift between President Barack Obama and his gay supporters.

U.S. District Judge David O. Carter ruled Monday that the case challenging the federal Defense of Marriage Act had been improperly filed in state court before it was transferred to his jurisdiction and said it can be refiled in federal court.

The case, brought on behalf of a gay Orange County couple, argues banning same-sex marriage violates the U.S. Constitution.

Same-sex marriage supporters criticized Obama this summer after U.S. Justice Department lawyers filed court papers defending the 1996 act. As a candidate, Obama pledged to work for the law’s repeal.

MIAMI (AP) – A South Florida man, who claims he contracted HIV during an endoscopic colonoscopy at a Miami Department of Veterans Affairs hospital, has filed a notice that he will sue the federal government

Juan Rivera, 55, an Army veteran, claims he contracted HIV during the procedure on or about May 19, 2008. Rivera said he had been tested twice and both times he was positive for the disease. He served in the Army from 1979 to 1989.

Ira Leesfield, an attorney for Rivera, said the notice is necessary under the Federal Tort Claims Act. Rivera has to give the federal government six months before he files a federal lawsuit. Leesfield said this lawsuit will be filed against the VA through United States of America. He added the claim states Rivera will sue for $20 million in damages.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) – Former Miss California USA Carrie Prejean says losing the Miss USA pageant and later her state crown was part of God’s plan.

Prejean also told a group of young voters at a Republican Party of Florida event Saturday that she was “sick and tired of being called a bigot.”

She believes she lost her title because of her opposition to same-sex marriage. California pageant executive director Keith Lewis has said that Prejean was skipping Miss California USA events while speaking out against same-sex marriage at unsanctioned appearances.

Prejean says she knows God wanted something different for her than a materialistic crown. She says she is now able to travel the country and speak about issues that she is passionate about.

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) – The first television advertisements in an anticipated referendum on Maine’s same-sex marriage law begin airing Thursday across the state.

Carisa Cunningham from Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders says the advertisements are airing in multiple markets in Maine. Details will be announced Thursday afternoon by the EqualityMaine Foundation, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders and the Maine Civil Liberties Union Foundation.

Maine’s same-sex marriage law was scheduled to take effect next month, but it’s been sidetracked as state election officials verify petitions submitted to force a statewide referendum.

The law will be stayed and a November election called if state election officials certify the signatures of at least 55,087 registered voters. Same-sex marriage opponents say they collected more than 100,000 signatures.

MOHAWK, N.Y. (AP) – The New York Civil Liberties Union says a central New York school district failed to protect a gay student from harassment, abuse and threats.

The NYCLU has filed a federal lawsuit against the Mohawk Central School District in Herkimer County on behalf of 14-year-old Jacob, whose last name is not being released.

The suit says the Gregory B. Jarvis Junior/Senior High School student has experienced escalating harassment for his sexual orientation over the past two years.

The NYCLU says district officials were repeatedly made aware of the abuse but didn’t formally investigate the harassment or discipline students.

In a statement, superintendent Joyce Caputo said the district “has not and will not knowingly tolerate discrimination or harassment of its students by anyone.’’

SYRACUSE, New York (AP) – An upstate New York man has been sentenced to the maximum 25 years in prison for the hate crime killing of a transgender woman.

Dwight DeLee was found guilty of manslaughter last month for shooting Lateisha Green because of anti-gay bias. The 20-year-old construction laborer is just the second person in the nation convicted of a hate crime for killing a transgender victim. He was sentenced Tuesday in Syracuse by Judge William Walsh.

The 22-year-old Green was born male, but lived mostly as a female after age 16. She was killed outside a house party in November.

DeLee was acquitted of murder. The manslaughter conviction means he intended to injure, not kill, someone when he fired into a car where Green was sitting with her brother and a friend.

CARSON CITY, Nev. (AP) – Nevada couples can start registering as domestic partners in advance of a new law that takes effect in October.

The Nevada secretary of state’s office planned to start taking applications on Monday.

Same- and opposite-sex couples who apply soon could receive their certificates of domestic partnership as early as Oct. 1.

That’s the day a new state law goes into effect extending rights similar to those held by married couples to cohabitating couples, whether same-sex or straight, who register.

Applications will be accepted at Secretary of State Ross Miller’s office. There is a $50 fee and the applications must be notarized.

DAYTON, Ohio (AP) – An Ohio city has been asked to approve a historical marker that would be the first in the state noting the sexual orientation of a person being honored.

The state marker proposed for Cooper Park in Dayton would pay tribute to Natalie Barney, an author born in the city in 1876 and known for her works with lesbian and feminist themes. She died in 1972.

A spokesperson for a gay community center in Dayton says Barney’s sexual orientation was part of her life’s work.

The center joined with other groups to raise the $2,300 cost of the marker, under the Ohio Historical Society’s Gay Ohio History Initiative.

The Dayton City Commission is scheduled to vote Aug. 26 on whether to allow the marker. Two of the commissioners have already spoken out in favor.

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) – Reaction is mixed in South Dakota to the decision by the country’s largest Lutheran denomination to allow gays and lesbians in committed relationships to serve as clergy.

Troy Larson of Hartford says he disagrees with the decision. But he says at least it’s not being forced on individual churches. He says he doesn’t see the issue as being one that will fracture the church.

Cindi Perry of Hartford says she has mixed feelings, but the bottom line is faith. She says if gay clergy are strong believers and can bring other people to the church, it would be a good thing.

In May, the South Dakota Synod voted to uphold the policy that prevented sexually active gays and lesbians from serving as pastors, and sent that recommendation to the ELCA. Before the vote to change the policy, only celibate homosexuals were allowed to serve.

FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) – The Fort Worth police chief says he’s revising his department’s bar inspection policies in the wake of a June raid on a gay bar that left one man hospitalized with a serious head injury.

Chief Jeff Halstead gave a preliminary report on his department’s investigation to City Council members Tuesday. He says flawed policy led to circumstances at the Rainbow Lounge that night that otherwise wouldn’t have happened.

Halstead says the final report should be ready by next month or October.