SALT LAKE CITY — A married same-sex couple says in a new lawsuit that Utah officials unfairly rejected their request to make both women legal parents on their child’s birth certificate.
Angie and Kami Roe of West Jordan say in the lawsuit filed Monday that hospital staff refused to take their birth certificate paperwork in February, and Utah officials said one mother must adopt the baby as a step-parent.
American Civil Liberties Union of Utah attorney Leah Farrell says heterosexual couples don’t have to go through that legal process, which takes months and costs hundreds of dollars.
“In light of cases like Kitchen and Evans, which make clear that Utah must extend the same rights and privileges in marriage to same-sex and different-sex couples alike, the State’s attempt to apply the assisted reproduction statute differently for male and female spouses is untenable and harmful,” said Leah Farrell, Staff Attorney at the ACLU of Utah. “All Utah families deserve the recognition afforded to them under Utah law.”
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A spokeswoman for the Utah Attorney General’s Office says the state is reviewing the lawsuit and didn’t have immediate comment.
Same-sex marriage became legal in the state last year, after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected appeals trying to uphold bans.
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