Tag Archives: birth certificate

Four Married Lesbian Couples Fill Lawsuit Against Tennessee Over It’s ‘LGBT Erasure Bill’

Four married lesbian couples expecting children have filed a lawsuit in Tennessee seeking to overturn a new state law that critics say could deny rights to same-sex couples by requiring strict adherence to terms such as “husband.”

The law requires other statutes in the state to be interpreted by their “natural and ordinary meaning”.

While it does not explicitly single out LGBTQ people for discrimination, the bill has largely been billed as an attempt to prevent judges from interpreting words with gender-specific meanings — such as “husband,” “wife,” “mother,” and “father” — to mean the same thing as a gender-neutral term like “spouse” or “parent.”

In response to the law’s passage, the four couples, each of whom have conceived a child using a sperm donor, filed suit, arguing that Tennessee’s “presumption of parentage” statute — where a man who is not the biological father of, but is married to the mother of a child is recognized as the child’s father for legal purposes — does not guarantee the same rights to non-biological lesbian mothers.

The lawsuit was filed by attorney Julie Tate-Keith, who is representing Charitey and Heather Mackenzie (pictured above), Crystal Dawn and Terra Mears, Elizabeth and Heather Broadaway, and Kathrine and Emilie Guthrie.

Tate-Keith argues that the new law violates equal rights and due process protections in both the U.S. and Tennessee constitutions, and asks the court to issue an order declaring that any spouse, regardless of gender, of a pregnant women should be recognized as the legal parent of the child they raise together.

The Supreme Court said that gay people could get married. If that’s to be meaningful, then same-sex couples have to be treated the same way that opposite-sex couples are, and that means parentage just like anyone else.”

But Haslam insisted when he was signing the bill that people were reading too much into the bill, arguing that it does nothing to change or alter the Supreme Court’s ruling on marriage equality.

The bill’s sponsor, Sen. John Stevens (R-Huntingdon), told the Chattanooga Times Free Press that he has “no idea” if his bill would infringe on the marital or parental rights of same-sex couples, but simply wants undefined words in Tennessee’s code to mean what legislators understood them to mean when they were drafting a law.

Chris Sanders, the executive director of the Tennessee Equality Project, notes that the Attorney General has pointed out several ambiguous terms and areas where applying “natural and ordinary” meaning to terms could cause problems for LGBTQ families.

He and his organization have termed the bill the “LGBT Erasure Bill” because of its deliberate attempt to force judges and government officials to discount the existence of families headed by same-sex couples when interpreting or enforcing laws related to marriage, adoption, or child custody.

With 95 counties, and elected judges that serve them all, there’s just too much risk. We think it’s better to err on the side of caution, and we hope this lawsuit is successful. We don’t really want to wait around to see what negative effects it might have.”

Gay Women Granted ‘Husband’s Rights’ In Landmark Custody Case

Tennessee natives, Erica Witt and Sabrina Witt legally wed in in April 2014 in the nation’s capital.

The couple bought a home together and decided to have a child via artificial insemination from an anonymous donor.

Sabrina Witt gave birth to a girl in January 2015.

However, because Tennessee did not then recognize same-sex marriage as legal at that time, Erica Witt’s name was not placed on the baby’s birth certificate.

So when the couple split, she discovered she had little legal standing in obtaining custody, because she had not adopted her child legally either.

Initially, fourth Circuit Judge Greg McMillan ruled that this meant the definition of “husband” did not apply to her scenario, and so she was only given the rights of a step-parent.

The judge insisted that Erica did not have a “biological relationship with this child, and no contractual relationship with this child”.

However, with the support of local activists and legal pressure, Judge McMillan has had to reverse the decision and grant both of the mothers’ joint custody.

His decision to reverse his ruling makes the case a landmark case in the history of LGBT rights, particularly because the judge was asked to interpret “husband” and “wife” as “spouse”.

The case comes after a new law was introduced in the state, which calls for language in legislature to be interpreted by their “natural and ordinary” meaning.

The bill states without explanation that the “meaning” should be “without forced or subtle construction that would limit or extend the meaning of the language.”

Governor Bill Haslam, who enacted the bill, has insisted that the law will not change how courts interpret legal precedent.

The Governor said in a statement.

While I understand the concerns raised about this bill, the Obergefell decision is the law of the land, and this legislation does not change a principle relied upon by the courts for more than a century, mitigating the substantive impact of this legislation.”

A group of four married, pregnant, lesbian couples have filed a lawsuit against the new anti-LGBT law.

Tate-Keith, speaking on behalf of the women involved, stated:

The Supreme Court said that gay people could get married. If that’s to be meaningful, then same-sex couples have to be treated the same way that opposite-sex couples are, and that means parentage just like anyone else.”

This means that the Witt case does not abide by the regulation which is being challenged.

 

You Can Finally Get An Intersex Birth Certificate

The “I” in LGBTQIA is often overlooked. Many people don’t even know what “intersex” means, although they probably know someone who is.

Intersex means that someone’s sexual anatomy does not line up with typical male and female binaries. For example, a person may look typically male on the outside, but possess female anatomy on the inside.

Conversely, a person may have genitalia that does not align to either sex – boys may have particularly small penises or scrotums that are shaped like labia, and girls may have extremely long clitorises or vaginas without an opening. But intersex identities are different, and some people never even realize that they’re intersex.

Recently, New York state made an important first step in recognizing these identities by issuing its first intersex birth certificate.

The recipient, Sara Kelly Keenan, had waited fifty-five years for this birth certificate. She was born with female genitalia, male genes and reproductive organs of both sexes, so she never identified with simply male or female. Her new birth certificate, which replaces the “F” with an “I,” feels both “empowering” and “shocking,” Keenan told Mic.

As a child, Keenan always felt alone.

I always knew I was something other than what the boys were and something other than what the girls were. but I didn’t know what that was. And I thought I was alone in the world with whatever it was.”

Her parents forced her to adhere to strict gender roles, which only isolated Keenan further. For ten years, if she didn’t wear a dress, she was not allowed to attend her own birthday party.

It wasn’t until 2012, when Keen was already in her fifties, that her father told her that she was intersex. When she was born, the doctor was confused about her genitalia, but her parents decided to raise her as a girl.

The intersex designation is different from non-binary. In California, Keenan had her gender legally changed to non-binary (and was only the second U.S. citizen to ever do so), but New York state rejected the term “non-binary.” In New York, gender is marked on birth certificates based on biological genitalia, so instead of non-binary they granted Keenan “intersex.”

Keenan believes that it’s just a matter of time before people will be able to legally define themselves beyond just intersex, male and female. She looks forward to that day.

In the meantime, she will continue working with the Intersex and Genderqueer Recognition Project and advocating for the 1 in 2,000 children who are born intersex.

Australian MPs Look To Pass Law Allowing Lesbian Parents To Add Both There Names To Their Childrens Birth Certificate

Australia’s Lower House of Parliament passed the Family Relationships Amendment Bill last week, allowing names of both lesbian parents to appear on the birth certificate of their child.

The Bill was first introduced in the Upper House of the Parliament by Greens MLC Tammy Franks, where it was passed in June 2015.

Under the current law, only the name of the woman who gives birth to the child will appear on the birth certificate unless the lesbian couple has been together for three years or more.

The Family Relationships Amendment Bill was passed by a conscience vote of 29-12, cast by members of both the government and the opposition.

Though the Bill was supported by Attorney General John Rau, he suggested an amendment to it that would make the law applicable only to new cases.

However, this did not garner much support and the new law will be applied retrospectively, the News.com.au reported.

The Bill which is also known as “Tadgh’s law” was co-sponsored by Liberal MP David Pisoni in the Lower House. It seeks to end the three-year cohabitation rule for the same-sex couples, which still existed in South Australia.

Franks said;

The passage of this Bill has been a long time coming for children like Tadhg, who celebrated his first birthday without a birth certificate because Births, Deaths and Marriages demanded that his mothers prove they had lived together for three years before his conception. I thank the Premier for finally giving this Bill Government time, at last, to ensure its passage after it languished on the notice paper for many months last year.”

She added,

This Bill overcomes a very difficult situation where, federally these couples are recognised as ‘de facto’, but because of this discriminatory three-year cohabitation rule, both co-parents were not able to be listed on their child’s birth certificate here in South Australia. These families and these children deserved better – and at last children like Tadhg will have their birth certificates and have certainty.”

Before it becomes a law, the bill would be returned from the Lower House to be rubber stamped in the Upper House. The same-sex parents who were affected by the issue can then apply for the reissue of the birth certificates.

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Lesbian Couple Wins Right To Have Both Names On Their Childs Birth Certificate

A Utah court has ended a lawsuit filed by a lesbian couple to get the mothers’ names on their child’s birth certificate.

According to a local affiliate:

In a joint agreement filed with in U.S. District Court and obtained by FOX 13 on Sunday, the ACLU of Utah and the Utah Attorney General’s Office acknowledged that Kami and Angie Roe had received a birth certificate that included Angie Roe’s name as a parent of their child, Lucy. Lawyers for the two sides also agreed to make the judge’s injunction permanent, effectively ending the case.”

The ruling opens up the doors for other gay couples to place both parents’ names on birth certificates.

The lesbian couple, sued the state after the health department wouldn’t allow the couple to both be on the birth certificate, only the biological mother, even though the two were legally wed in Utah.

Judge Rules That Utah Must Recognise Lesbian Couple as Joint Mothers on Birth Certificate

On Wednesday a federal judge ordered the state of Utah to list the names of a lesbian couple on a birth certificate of their new baby. Lawyers say the ruling is the first of its kind since the U.S. Supreme Court legalised gay.

Utah-Couple

U.S. District Judge Dee Benson said the assisted reproduction case wasn’t hard to decide.

The state has failed to demonstrate any legitimate reason, actually any reason at all, for not treating a female spouse in a same-sex marriage the same as a male spouse in an opposite-sex marriage.”

Angie and Kami Roe of West Jordan said in their lawsuit on the issue that the state should treat wedded lesbian couples the same as heterosexual couples who use sperm donors to have children.

State law automatically recognises a husband who agrees to assisted reproduction as a father, but the Utah attorney general’s office contended that doesn’t extend to same-sex couples because child bearing is legally different from marriage.

State attorneys wrote in court documents

It is a fact that a non-biologically related female spouse can never be the biological father of a child. It is a biological impossibility for a woman who does not give birth to a child to establish paternity of a child through the act of birth.”

Parker Douglas with the Utah attorney general’s office said Wednesday that listing non-biological parents on a birth certificate could throw off state record-keeping and disrupt the ability of authorities to identify public health trends.

The judge, however, pointed out that the same problem could apply when married heterosexual couples use sperm donors.

Douglas declined to comment on whether the state would appeal the ruling.

The Roes sued after hospital staff members refused to take their birth certificate paperwork shortly after Kami Roe gave birth in February. Utah officials told the couple that one mother must adopt the baby as a step-parent, a process the Roes say is costly, invasive and unfair.

The ruling requires Utah to declare married lesbian parents to be legal moms from birth, but it doesn’t apply to male same-sex couples because they typically use a surrogate.

Similar cases have come up in Iowa and Arkansas, said family law expert Douglas NeJamie. He expects to see more, especially in states that had sought to keep laws banning same-sex marriage on the books. Utah spent $1.2 million to defend its ban on same-sex marriage, state officials have said.

Many states have similar laws governing artificial insemination that previously had not applied to same-sex unions because the rules were specific to married couples, said NeJamie, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles.

This is an easy way to actually try and discriminate against same-sex couples.”

The Utah case could have an effect on other pending cases, though the parental rights of same-sex couples will depend on what state laws are already on the books for heterosexual couples, he said.

Lesbian Couple Demand Both Names on Son’s Birth Certificate In Indiana

A married couple, Ashlee and Ruby Henderson, has asked a federal court to force Indiana state and county officials to name both of them as parents on their newborn son’s birth certificate.

They were married in November in Indiana, and Ruby Henderson gave birth in December to a son through artificial insemination, but state and local officials have refused to list both as parents on his birth certificate.

ashlee-and-ruby-henderson-01

Tippecanoe Department of Health officials told the Lafayette couple it would take a court order to list Ashlee Henderson as a parent on the birth certificate, the couple said in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in southern Indiana.

Allowing a father to be listed as a parent on the birth certificate, which also provides associated benefits to a child, but not for a same-sex spouse is a violation of the U.S. Constitution, the couple said in the lawsuit.

More: Lesbian Parents Win Right To Have Names On Children’s Birth Certificates In Virginia

Indiana law “stigmatizes persons in a same-sex marriage and sends a hideous message to their children by implying that these children are somehow less deserving of the presumption of two parents and legitimacy,” the lawsuit said.

Randy Vonderheide, an attorney for the Tippecanoe County Health Department, said officials use birth certificate forms they believe comply with state law and should consider changes following rulings that make same-sex marriage legal in Indiana.

“The administration hasn’t caught up with the times. The system isn’t set up to accommodate same-sex marriages.”

Randy Vonderheide