Gay couple sues to force Indiana to name both on son's birth record

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Gay couple sues to force Indiana to name both on son's birth record

BY KEVIN MURPHY
Fri Feb 13, 2015 5:30pm EST

(Reuters) - A married same-sex couple on Friday asked a federal court to force Indiana state and county officials to name both of the women as parents on their newborn son's birth certificate.

Ashlee and Ruby Henderson 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.

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.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/02/13/us-usa-indiana-birth-idUSKBN0LH2GG20150213

[SheilaT]

1. Good. I hope they succeed.

What we need is a whole lot of gender-neutral language in things like marriage laws, divorce laws, adoption laws, and so on.

I will be honest and say that a few years ago when I first realized that same sex marriage was going to be happening, I got a bit puzzled about certain things, like the inevitable divorces that will occur, because I was stuck in my binary thinking, that marriage involves one man and one woman. Once anyone (like me) realizes that it's really about a commitment two people make to each other, the thinking of how to deal with legal stuff becomes a lot simpler.