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Ark. health department allows same-sex couples on birth certificates

Ark. health department allows same-sex couples on birth certificates

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The Arkansas Department of Health is allowing same-sex couples to be listed as the parents on birth certificates after a judge struck down the state’s gay marriage ban.

Ark-Health-DeptHealth department spokeswoman Kerry Krell said Monday that two gay couples have already sought to both be listed as parents on birth certificates issued by the state.

Krell said the department is asking the couples to fill out the same paperwork they’d ask a heterosexual couple to fill out to add a second parent.

Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chris Piazza on Friday ruled that the 2004 constitutional amendment and a 1997 law banning same-sex marriage are unconstitutional. Dozens of same-sex couples have been married since his decision.

The Health Department was one of the defendants named in the lawsuit.

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