News
2006-01-20
Virginia panel
rejects birth certificate restriction for adoptive couples
Gay rights win in
Virginia
A Virginia senate
committee has narrowly killed
In a win for gay
rights, a committee in the Virginia senate has narrowly
killed legislation barring gay adoptive parents in other
states from getting both of their names listed on
birth certificates issued by Virginia. The education
and health committee voted 8–7 to kill the
measure, which Sen. Emmett Hanger filed in response to a
ruling last April by the Virginia supreme court.
In that case, the court said the state
Department of Vital Records must provide new birth
certificates for children born in Virginia and adopted
by same-sex couples in other states. Three gay couples had
filed suit after the state refused to issue new
certificates for their adopted children.
Hanger's bill would have allowed only one
same-sex partner to be listed on a birth certificate.
Hanger said that is consistent with Virginia law
prohibiting joint adoptions by unmarried
couples—including same-sex couples.
"Wouldn't the other partner feel terribly
discriminated against?" asked Sen. H. Russell Potts
Jr., chairman of the committee. "Aren't you creating a
situation of recognizing one member of a family as being
important and one being a nonentity?"
Aimee Perron Seibert, lobbyist for the American
Civil Liberties Union of Virginia, told the committee
that listing only one adoptive parent's name on a
birth certificate could prevent the other parent from
obtaining school records or medical care for the child.
Dyana Mason, executive director of the gay
rights group Equality Virginia, also spoke against the
proposal. She said it would violate the Full Faith and
Credit Clause of the Constitution, which requires states
to honor rulings issued by courts in other states.
Potts, a Republican who made news during his
independent campaign for governor last year by
publicly supporting adoption by gays, joined all seven
Democrats on the committee in voting to kill the measure.
(AP)
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