Tallahassee – The state is fighting back in a lawsuit where three lesbian couples are asking to have both parents’ names listed on their children’s birth certificates.
Attorneys on behalf of the Florida Bureau of Vital Statistics filed a motion for clarification Aug. 13, essentially asking whether the Supreme Court ruling legalizing same sex marriage applies to vital statistics records and whether the existing gender-specific language somehow exempts the state from birth certificates.
“Florida Statutes requires that if the mother is married at the time of birth, the name of the husband shall be entered on the birth record. The gender specific language of the statute appears to preclude married same-sex couples from being listed as parents on birth certificates,” the state’s motion reads.
Mary Meeks, an Orlando attorney who is part of the team representing the couples, says the state’s position is “at best, disingenuous,” noting that the federal rulings require states to treat same-sex and heterosexual married couples equally in all respects.
“It is absurd to argue that they can’t comply with that directive without a ‘clarification’ from the Court that [the judge] really meant what he said,” Meeks says in an email to Watermark. “It is a copout – they are and have been violating established law for 7 months and it is shameful that they continue to harm Florida families through this pretext. They have had 7 months to seek ‘clarification.’”
The couples who are suing to have both parents’ names put on their children’s birth certificates include Cathy Pareto and Karla Arguello, who were lead plaintiff’s in Florida’s marriage equality lawsuit. The women celebrated the birth of their twin son and daughter earlier this month. However, the hospital would not allow Pareto to put her name on the children’s birth certificates, despite Florida’s ban on same-sex marriage being declared unconstitutional nearly a year ago.
The other couples in the lawsuit are Debbie and Kari Chin of St. Petersburg and Yadira Arenas and Alma Vezquez of Winter Haven; Equality Florida is also a plaintiff in the case. They’re represented by the Meeks, the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and Florida attorney Elizabeth Schwartz.
“Attorney General Pam Bondi could have avoided yet another costly lawsuit by directing all state agencies to simply comply with the law. Instead she turned her back on repeated requests to take action,” said Nadine Smith, Executive Director of Equality Florida, in a media release. “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.”
Shannon Minter, NCLR’s legal director, says they’ve been asking the Bureau of Vital Statistics to comply with the law for months.
According to Equality Florida, inaccurate birth certificates cause a host of problems for children by hindering their parents’ ability to take care of needs such as obtaining healthcare, making medical decisions, signing up for daycare, and enrolling in government programs and benefits. The lawsuit simply asks the Bureau of Vital Statistics to list both parents on birth certificates when the parents are a married same-sex couple, just as they do when the parents are a married heterosexual couple.
