Same-sex couples win birth certificate lawsuit
A federal judge ordered Indiana to extend the same rights of parenthood to same-sex couples as others by listing both parents on their children's birth certificates.
The ruling Thursday marks one of the first family law changes in providing equal rights to gay and lesbian couples following the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling recognizing same-sex marriages.
Eight same-sex couples sued the state, which allowed only a mother and a father to be named on birth certificates. Only the birth mother, who carried the child, could be listed as a parent. The state did not recognize two mothers, even in cases where they were legally wed, and even in a case where one woman donated the egg that her wife eventually carried.
"This is common-sense justice," said Noell Allen, one of the plaintiffs who is from Indianapolis. "It's allowing us as a family to be recognized as any other married couple in the state of Indiana."
The attorney general's office is reviewing the ruling in order to decide whether to seek a stay and appeal the decision.
When an opposite-sex couple undergoes artificial insemination, the husband is presumed to be the father — even though he is not the child's biological father. But, prior to the ruling, children born to same-sex couples were considered born out of wedlock, and one of the mothers would have to adopt her child to be legally recognized as a parent.
The birth certificate issue could have precluded some families from registering a child in school, making medical decisions, lining up Social Security and inheritance benefits or listing a child as a dependent on insurance and income taxes, the lawsuit contended.
Without the legal authority of being a parent, said plaintiff Tonya Bush-Sawyer, "I'm basically just a glorified nanny."
She went through the process to adopt her son, whom her wife carried.
"It's very intrusive," Bush-Sawyer said. "Humiliating. So I'm glad that other people don't have to go through this."
Several other states recently have grappled with the same issue. In Nebraska, for example, the state agreed to change its birth certificate policies after couples brought a lawsuit, according to news reports. In Utah and Arkansas, judges ruled in favor of married same-sex couples.
In Indiana, Pratt wrote in her ruling that recognizing both parents on birth certificates is in the best interest of children, and only helps protect, promote and preserve families.
For Sarah and Calle Janson, it eases fears and the feeling of being second-class citizens.
"She is contributing love and support and money and everything that a parent does," Sarah Janson said. "And she should have the legal rights and responsibility of that as well. ... And our daughter will grow up knowing she has the legal love of both of her parents, instead of thinking that maybe something could happen to one of us and she wouldn't be taken care of."
"With this ruling coming down," Calle Janson added, "we hope that it makes it easier for us to just be parents to our daughter."
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Call IndyStar reporter Stephanie Wang at (317) 444-6184. Follow her on Twitter: @stephaniewang.