Same-Sex Couples Cry Foul Over Florida Birth Certificates

The Florida Bureau of Vital Statistics’ refusal to list the names of both parents in same-sex relationships on birth certificates is drawing legal fire.

Equality Florida announced Thursday a federal lawsuit had been filed in the U.S. District Court’s Northern District of Florida in Tallahassee. The suit challenges the state’s refusal “to allow hospitals to list both same-sex parents on their baby’s birth certificate.”

The suit comes on the heels of the birth of twins to Cathy Pareto and Karla Arguello, the first same-sex couple married in Florida after January’s legalization. When the twin boy and girl were born, the hospital put Karla’s name as the birth mother on the certificate, but refused to list Cathy’s, Equality Florida states.

The federal suit challenges that refusal on behalf of Cathy and Karla and two other married same-sex couples in similar situations. Florida Secretary of Health and Surgeon General John Armstrong and State Registrar Kenneth Jones are named as defendants.

“Attorney General Pam Bondi could have avoided yet another costly lawsuit by directing all state agencies to simply comply with the law,” Nadine Smith, Equality Florida’s executive director said in a statement issued after the lawsuit was filed. “Instead she turned her back on repeated requests to take action. Birth certificates are the first official document that represent a new born baby’s family. Having an inaccurate birth certificate hinders parents’ ability to take care of their child and access important legal benefits and protections. Denying our families this is not only spiteful and harmful, it is illegal.”

Bondi has not issued a statement on the suit’s filing.

See Also:

• Federal Judge OKs Same-Sex Marriages in Florida
• U.S. Supreme Court Says Marriage a Right for Same-Sex Couples

Other plaintiffs in the suit are Debbie and Kari Chin of St. Petersburg and Yadira Arenas and Alma Vezquez of Winter Haven.

Last August, Judge Robert L. Hinkle struck down Florida’s same-sex marriage ban. The first same-sex marriages were allowed in the state in January. The U.S. Supreme Court also declared same-sex marriage a right in June.

Equality Florida noted that Cathy and Karla have been together for 15 years. Karla is a stay-at-home mom to the couple’s twins and a young son while Cathy works at a financial planning firm.

“There isn’t a moment that goes by that I’m not thinking of the harm my children—my newborns—may face because we aren’t being treated like other families,” Cathy was quoted in a media release as saying. “All I want to do is love, protect, and provide the best opportunities for our children. The state’s refusal to recognize that they have two parents and to list both of us on the birth certificates is demeaning and hurtful. My children have two parents, and we should both be listed on their birth certificates.”

The state’s failure to list both names on birth certificates “denies children with same-sex parents the dignity, legitimacy, security, support and protections available upon birth to children of married different-sex parents,” Equality Florida alleges.

The suit was filed on the couples’ behalf by the National Center for Lesbian Rights. It seeks a judge’s order declaring Florida’s refusal to “issue accurate two-parent birth certificates to married same-sex couples” a violation of the due process and equal protection clauses of the 14th amendment.

The full complaint can be read here.

It is unclear how soon the issue will be heard before the court.

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