Supreme Court: Same-Sex Parents Have Right to Be Listed on Birth Certificates

The U.S. Supreme Court has just handed down a ruling chastising the State of Arkansas for refusing to include the names of both parents, a same-sex couple, on their child’s birth certificate. The Court ruled Arkansas discriminated against the couple.

The unsigned opinion reversed an Arkansas State Supreme Court ruling.

Under Arkansas law, female same-sex couples were forced to go to court to request both their names appear on the birth certificate.

“Arkansas routinely lists a woman’s husband as a child’s father, even if he is not the biological parent of the child. The same-sex couples want the same presumption applied to the married partner of a woman who gives birth to a child,” ABC News explains.

The case is Pavan v. Nathaniel Smith.

Max Brantley at the Arkansas Blog reports what appears to be animus on the part of the Arkansas Attorney General:

The lead plaintiffs in this case, Terrah and Marissa Pavan, DID get a proper birth certificate for their child thanks to a circuit court order, but Attorney General Leslie Rutledge appealed and shut it down for other couples soon after.