SALT LAKE CITY — In court papers filed in federal court and obtained by FOX 13, the Utah Attorney General’s Office is opposing a request for an injunction filed by a lesbian couple who wants to be listed as their child’s parents on a birth certificate.
“The presumption of parentage only applies to cases of marriages involving a man and a woman. It does not apply to instances of marriages between two women or two men,” Utah Federal Solicitor Parker Douglas wrote. “The statute therefore distinguishes based on sexual orientation rather than sex or gender, as it is equally inapplicable to situations where two women or two men are married to each other.”
Read the Utah Attorney General’s filing here:
Angie and Kami Roe married after Utah’s same-sex marriage ban was overturned in 2013. The ACLU of Utah filed a lawsuit on their behalf after the Utah Department of Health refused to put Angie’s name on the birth certificate, stating she is not the father of the child.
In its filing, the Utah Attorney General’s Office said the Roes could undergo what’s called a “second-parent adoption” to have legal rights to their child. In a response filed last month, the ACLU countered that would be expensive and burdensome.
They also pointed out that Utah now has same-sex marriage.
“Now that same- sex couples may marry under Utah law, however, the Equal Protection Clause requires that the statute be extended to provide automatic parentage for male spouses of women who conceive through donor sperm and female spouses of women who conceive the same way,” ACLU of Utah attorney Leah Farrell wrote.
The ACLU is asking a judge to grant an injunction forcing the state to recognize Angie Roe on their child’s birth certificate. The Utah Attorney General’s Office is asking the judge to deny the motion. A judge has not yet scheduled a hearing in the case.
Read the ACLU of Utah’s filing here:
