NY: Gay parents allowed both names on birth certificates

Good news - and a ripple effect: Their Children’s Birth Certificates: The Next Fight in LGBT Equality Lisa Derrick Sunday March 29, 2009 6:10 am

This week New York City joined the rest of the state in allowing married lesbian couples to list both women as parents from when one of them gives birth, though the state itself does not yet perform same-sex marriages. In May Gov. David Paterson had ordered state agencies to respect out-of-state same-sex marriages saying that recent court ruling could subject agencies to discrimination claims; this was implemented in December. New York City keeps its own vital statistics separately from the state; the city's Board of Health voted unanimously to make the change.

This New York state law is having an effect elsewhere. A federal judge ruled March 19th that Louisiana has 15 days to add the names of both fathers to the birth certificate of a boy born in Shreveport and adopted by a gay couple from New York who now live in Southern California. The boy's parents, Oren Adar and Mickey Ray Smith, adopted their Louisiana-born son in New York state, and want both their names on his birth certificate. Louisiana law only allows one single person or a married couple to adopt, but U.S. District Judge Jay Zainey ruled in December that because the adoption became formal in New York, the Office of Vital Records must recognize that state's adoption law on the matter.