PORTLAND, Ore. -- - Lambda Legal announced today that the State of Oregon has changed an employee health care policy to remove all language that denies coverage to transgender people for transition-related health care.

The change came in response to a lawsuit filed by Lambda Legal and cooperating attorney Jennifer Middleton on behalf of Alec Esquivel, who was denied insurance coverage as a State employee for a medically necessary surgery because he is transgender.

SAN FRANCISCO -- The U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday temporarily delayed the start date of a new California law that protects LGBT youth from therapists who try to change their sexual orientation despite warnings by medical experts that these discredited practices put youth at risk of serious harm.

The new law was set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2013.

DES MOINES, Iowa -- The Iowa District Court for Polk County ordered the state's Department of Public Health to issue an accurate death certificate to Jennifer and Jessica Buntemeyer after their son was stillborn in October of last year.

The couple's grief was compounded when the Iowa Department of Public Health erased Jenny's name from the death certificate.

In his ruling, District Judge Robert A. Hutchison referred to Lambda Legal's 2009 case affirming the freedom for same-sex couples to marry in Iowa, and wrote:

For the first time in history, the Supreme Court will be hearing two gay rights cases in one term. Between now and June, public attention will be focused closely on the right of lesbians, gay men, and bisexuals to equality under the law and of same-sex couples to have their relationships treated equally by the federal government and at least California.