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Same Sex Couples Seek Ruling In Birth Certificate Dispute
December 17, 2015
Nearly a year after same-sex marriages started in Florida, a legal decision could be looming in a dispute about birth certificates for children of same-sex couples.
Two couples and an advocacy group asked a federal judge last week to require the Florida Department of Health to list both spouses on birth certificates of children born into same-sex marriages — as the department typically does when married parents are a man and a woman.
The request for summary judgment, which would short-circuit the need for a trial, contends that the department’s refusal to list both spouses in same-sex marriages on birth certificates violates couples’ constitutional rights.
“Defendants’ (agency officials’) refusal to issue birth certificates listing both parents when a same-sex spouse gives birth to a child in Florida treats married same-sex couples differently than married different-sex couples, denying married same-sex couples one of the most important protections provided to married couples under state law,” said the document filed in federal court in Tallahassee. “Defendants’ conduct exposes plaintiffs and their children to serious harms, while serving no legitimate, much less compelling, state interest.”
But department attorneys argue that the agency does not have the power to make the change on its own. At least one of the issues in the case is a state law that says if a “mother is married at the time of birth, the name of the husband shall be entered on the birth certificate as the father of the child, unless paternity has been determined otherwise by a court of competent jurisdiction.”
“Defendants (agency officials) contend that the department is an executive agency whose powers are limited to the ability to administer and enforce the laws and rules related to the state of Florida’s public health system including the authority to act as the state’s registrar of vital statistics pursuant to (a section of state law),” according to an October court document that outlines the positions of both sides. “Therefore, the department lacks the authority to revise existing legislation or to apply case law in a manner that invalidates existing legislation without clear judicial authority to do so.”
The lawsuit, whose plaintiffs include the Equality Florida Institute advocacy group, was filed in August, about seven months after same-sex marriages began in Florida. The lawsuit also came less than two months after a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that established a legal right for same-sex couples to marry.
Two of the plaintiffs in the birth certificate case, Kari Chin and Deborah Chin, were married 2013 in Massachusetts, with Kari Chin giving birth in February 2015 to a son, according to last week’s filing. The Department of Health’s Office of Vital Statistics issued a birth certificate listing Kari Chin as a parent but declined to list both spouses.
The other plaintiffs, Alma Vazquez and Yadira Arenas, were married in 2013 in New York, with Vazquez giving birth in March 2015 to a daughter. The court filing said Vazquez was told she had to be listed as unmarried to get a birth certificate for the child.
U.S. District Judge Robert Hinkle has set a Jan. 6 deadline for the Department of Health to respond to the plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment. Hinkle last year ruled that Florida’s ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional, which set the stage for marriages to begin.
by Jim Sanders, The News Service of Florida
Comments
20 Responses to “Same Sex Couples Seek Ruling In Birth Certificate Dispute”
So, out of curiosity…I am wondering how you all would feel if a mom conceived a child using an anonymous sperm donor via artificial insemination and then married her same-sex partner. The two women separated and now that divorce is legal, the non-biological mom is suing the biological mother for custody, claiming to be a parent. Curious about your opinions…
Listing non genetic parents as parents for the purpose of custody is fine as long as it is duly noted. For vital statistics it is meaningless. To avoid birth defects caused by unknown incest, you need the genetic parents only but completely.
David for the benefit of the children
Come on people… Common sense:
The BIOLOGICAL parents should be named on ANY birth certificate.
This PC crap and competition to see how far perversion can push policy is silly.
Listing a “parent” on the birth certificate that obviously CANNOT actually be a contribution to the existence of the child is doing nothing more than dumbing down society. This is all totally separate, as it should be, from one’s opinion over the issue of homosexuality, and it’s value to society. Some things should just rise above petty issues, and this is one.
As a member of the empathetic human being population, I award you a very honorary title of “I know I’m a bigot”
“being a man, married to only one woman in my life, having children with her, providing for them, teaching my children properly (not letting other children, music, tv, news, or intranet do it), bringing them to church, trying to do whats (really) right, knowing homosexuality is against nature and God, and not caring if I hurt the feelings of a perverse group or their sympathizers, if that makes me a bigot, I am guilty.”
-have only been married to one woman, but how many woman have you had sexual relationships with? only her?? if not, you are not a bigot my friend, but a hypocrite.
-not caring if you hurt people (even if its just their feelings) not very God like
Bryan Bethea, you are totally right!
chris- of course that makes you a bigot! Look up the definition!
Here’s to hoping that EVERYONE has a happy holiday.
If you can name your child after the father without the father’s approval((Imagine that! I could have Barack Obama’s baby and he’d have nothing to say about it. Ohhh I threw up a bit in my mouth) or even a DNA test then how is it so far fetched to list the name of two women or two men on one? Although naming a child after a man and having his name put on the birth certificate is a bit different. In order for a man to be listed as the father he has to sign the birth certificate. If the father doesn’t sign the birth certificate it bastardizes the child.
@chris such ignorant, ridiculous, unchristian rhetoric is exactly why there is so much hate directed toward supposed christians and southerners. Take your assumed offspring and realize your outlook doesn’t equal correct. To pretend there is not a genetic link to homosexuality just as there is to autism, down syndrome, mutism etc is as arogant as it is simpleminded. Similar to assuming all men listed on birth certificates are the biological fathers.
1 man, 1 woman make life under GOD’s hand How dare they rob a child of who they truly are, their identity, their self worth for grown-ups own selfish means. A birth certificate is a federal document and to change it is a federal offense.
Don’t compare this LIE to adoption. That is a separate legal document with a petition to change the child’s NAME. Not parentage.
But is selfish and SICK. No parent would want to deny their child the truth.
At least with adoption, the child can find their birth parents (which I think is mean to the ones who loved and raised them, but I can understand the need too). But to completely ERASE that. is so wrong.
You talk of hurting feelings chris but you seem to be the one with hurt feelings, with all that hateful language. Is that what you want your kids to see? You calling people devils and what not? I have a wife and kid and i will lead by example. Live and let live. And let judgement be reserved by God.
It does. Unless you rule a heaven or hell that YOU can send them to. So quick to judge…
If being a man, married to only one woman in my life, having children with her, providing for them, teaching my children properly (not letting other children, music, tv, news, or intranet do it), bringing them to church, trying to do whats (really) right, knowing homosexuality is against nature and God, and not caring if I hurt the feelings of a perverse group or their sympathizers, if that makes me a bigot, I am guilty.
@ Christian, I don’t know about Chris, but I’d rather live right & go to Heaven later than do wrong & go to hell where you’ll never stop burning, just imagine that burned finger spreading throughout your whole body & that constant pain, I’ve read the fire never goes out, its eternal & you won’t even get feel good ointment, or better yet seeing your child in constant pain knowing you raised that kid with the wrong beliefs unless he/she sees your error & decides to go against your wrong ways & don’t tell me that God won’t let people to to hell, let me tell you this, he loves us, but we hurt him when we do wrong, God had to turn away when his Son, Jesus was crucified, he couldn’t stand it, he died for us, you & me, don’t think he won’t turn his back on you, after all there is a hell & the Bible does mention wailing & knashing of teeth, so somebody has to go there, right? It’s kinda why some people fight the manger scene, it bothers them, so really deep down they do believe or it shouldn’t bother them. Thank you, I’ll stop with my parental sermon on you for today. Who knows ya’ll may get a few more from others like me, I’m sure I’m not the only Christian who don’t mind speaking my mind.
Also, Bryan Bethea, nobody ever said it was right for people to put the wrong parent down, there is a line there, as for me another man or woman can put what ever they want down, it’s just messing with future generations because it doesn’t matter on what name your given, you’re still who you are, the blood isn’t going to change no matter if your mother was a smith & your biological dad was a Williams if they change it to cook, you’re still a smith & Williams not a cook & later on the child may meet & marry a relative & not know it, so I say leave kids names alone, period, be more careful who you have relations with if you don’t want a Williams kid, both biological parents should be listed & not hid, although some kids are being protected from certain things but are told situation & it’s not kept hush hush when biological dad isn’t listed then there’s some girls that don’t know who their baby daddy is not judging just telling the truth, it’s still wrong, but you seem to think that’s ok, because it’s always been done that way right? Wrong
Again, they’re 2 women or 2 men, either way, it doesn’t matter, they can not produce together, animals of the same sex can’t produce either, that means, it’s not to be, period, it’s wrong, & it also is true what Chris said, it would be lying therefore falsifying documents, therefore a crime in that, but yet queers in general never cease to amaze me, but I’m sure some corrupt soul will make it happen. People you are trying to play God here on earth & it’s not gonna fare too good for you in the long run, so turn back to God while you still can, just because you love the same sex doesn’t mean you’re queer, sisters & friends love each other, just that some people have to be nasty & pervert things & do the unthinkable. As said before, animals don’t even do what queers do. I say that word because gay means happy & dudes aren’t lesbians & I don’t really know a word for them. You better heed the Good Book people & stop the bad.
Since two women or two men can’t conceive a child, in the case of the women, the sperm donor should have to be on the birth certificate and the female who delivered the baby in the case of the men should also be on the birth certificate. That is the only way it could be legal.
Just plain evil. Sinners are never satisfied until they drag others down into their misery.
@chris
Your bigotry overshadows your logic.
Sorry, but birth certificates are really just a parental registry and in no way do they now nor have they ever reliably indicated the biological parentage of a person. Adopted children routinely have their certificates amended to reflect the adoptive parents. This isn’t any different. Rail against same-sex marriage all you want, but this is particular issue shouldn’t even be controversial. Birth certificates are amended all the time. In fact, single mothers often list no father on them at all.
It’s a BIRTH certificate. The State of Florida cannot say,” Ok Mary, you gave birth so your the mother and Sharon, your the ah…..”
If they put the both of you corruptors on the same birth certificate, it would be a lie. Falsifying a State or official document. Just because you make the child call you er, dad ? doesn’t mean you get to be on the birth certificate. It’s the same circumstances as if you devils adopted a baby. You couldn’t get a birth certificate with your name on it then either.
I could be wrong though. Our poor govt has thrown away the constitution as well as what the people want by pretending your marriage is real so why not pretend you can be a “real” parent?