Wisconsin Lesbian Couple Win Discrimination Lawsuit Over Their Child’s Birth Certificate
A federal judge ruled last Wednesday that Wisconsin officials discriminated against a married lesbian couple for not allowing the non-biological mother’s name on their child’s birth certificate. Jessamy and Chelsea Torres were married in 2012 in New York and two years later conceived their son through artificial insemination. Chelsea gave birth to their son in 2015, after same-sex marriage became legal in Wisconsin. The couple requested a birth certificate listing them both as the parents but the Wisconsin Department of Health Services gave them one with Chelsea’s name as the sole parent.
drawing of a happy couple of lesbians and adopted child
“It felt like I got punch right in the stomach,” Jessamy Torres told the Star Tribune. “Through the whole birthing process, we were treated like we were both his parents. … But to have the state kind of erase me from all that, yeah, it was heart wrenching.”
The forms the couple filled out for a Wisconsin birth certificate only had lines asking for the mother’s and father’s name and not the gender-neutral term “parent” that other states now use. There wasn’t an option on the form for Jessamy to add her name. U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb ruled Wisconsin was unconstitutional to treat the couple this way when different-sex partners in the same situation weren’t discriminated against. She directed the department to use gender-neutral terms in their forms including using the words “parent” and “spouse.”
A parent’s name omitted from their child’s birth certificate could present problems for a family when trying to authorize medical treatment, registering for school or day care, boarding an airplane and entitling the child to benefits from a parent’s job. “Everyone else gets a birth certificate right away,” attorney Clearesia Lovell-Lepak told the Star Tribune. “You don’t have to go to court or a lawyer. It just makes you feel a little less than when you have to fight so hard to get what everybody else gets for free right away.”
It wasn’t till a few months ago in May that Wisconsin changed their forms to obtain a birth certificate. They now include two boxes that acknowledges same-sex women couples conceiving through artificial insemination. So this ruling only affects “other female same-sex couples who were artificially inseminated, married before they gave birth and requested a birth certificate before May 2, 2016,” according to the Star Tribune.
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Posted by Yvonne, September 20, 2016 Autostraddle.com