Australia: Gay couple win legal battle to be named on birth certificate
A lesbian couple in Queensland, Australia, have won a legal battle to have both their names added to the birth certificate of their children.
Both of the lesbian couple will be named on the birth certificates, in a first for the Australian state.
The couple applied to the Supreme Court in March to both be recognised on the birth certificate, and as legal parents to their two children.
Never before has such a decision been made for a same-sex couple in such a position. Their children were conceived using artificial insemination, but before the Surrogacy Act of 2010 began.
Under laws prior to the act, the same-sex partner of the birth mother would not have been recognised, despite that the couple have been together for 20 years.
The mother who gave birth to the children said she faced losing social security benefits because she was classed as a single parent.
The sperm donor had attempted to make contact with the children, and opposed the ruling. The couple met him through a gay community website.
He maintains that he always wanted to have a relationship with the children, but the couple say he said the opposite when they contacted him.
“The register will now accurately reflect the correct parents for the children and the true nature of the relationship between (the couple),” Justice Ann Lyons said in her written judgment in favour of the couple.
The father’s bid to have contact with the children is a separate, unresolved case.
Laws protecting minors prevent PinkNews from reporting the names of the adults involved.
