Married Lesbians To Be Listed On New York City Birth Certificates

A new policy in New York City now allows lesbian couples to list both women as parents from the outset when one of them gives birth.

Until now, married same-sex couples – male and female – have been able to list both spouses on a city birth certificate only after going through a very expensive legal adoption process, after which they had to fill out a special form to get a new birth certificate.

Now Married lesbian moms can list both their names as parents on a child’s birth certificate as soon as their children are born in New York City, rather than having to go to court to secure their place on this most basic feature of parenthood, a birth certificate, as they had been required to do in the past after the NYC Board of Health voted unanimously Tuesday to make that change.

Gay Dads however still have to go thru the adoption process because of rules requiring a birth certificate to include the birth mother’s name. The same is true in the state policy.

The state made a similar move in December, after Gov. David Paterson ordered agencies last May to respect out-of-state gay marriages. Paterson had said recent court rulings suggested New York state agencies would otherwise risk discrimination claims.

The state policy applied everywhere except New York City, which keeps its own vital statistics and sets its own rules for them. But Paterson’s directive prompted city officials to review their policy, said city registrar and assistant health commissioner Steven Schwartz.

The new city rules are effective immediately but NYC Board of Health officials expect it to take some time before they can implement them.