Fed Court Denies New Birth Certificate to Adopted Child of Gay Dads

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last night that two gay men did not have the right to a reissued birth certificate for the Louisiana-born child they adopted in New York—a birth certificate that would have listed them both as parents (and a common practice for adoptive families). The state had denied the fathers the new birth certificate, saying it violated Louisiana’s public policy of not allowing joint adoptions by unmarried couples.

The men said the state’s action violated the Full Faith and Credit Clause and Equal Protection Clauses of the U.S. Constitution; the court disagreed, overturning the rulings of two lower courts.

More details on the ruling in my piece over at Keen News Service.

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