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Interior Ministry ordered to put both lesbian mothers on birth certificate
Three Family Court cases have ended in rulings instructing the ministry to put both the biological and adoptive mothers as a 'mother' on their children's first official document.
The Family Court has ordered the Ministry of the Interior to issue birth certificates for children of lesbian couples where one mother is the biological parent that has both their mothers' names listed as parents.
Until now, a child of a lesbian couple would show up on the identity cards of each of the mothers, but the child would not actually possess a document with both the parents' names on it. In this framework, each mother had her co-parent show up on the line for "Father's name."
Op-ed on the rulings
Orna Oshri
Rulings in the Family Court requiring two lesbian mothers to both feature on their child's birth certificate don't surprise Orna Oshri; her 16-year-old's identity card already shows both her mothers as 'mothers'; the unofficial war between LGBT people and the religious in Israel has kicked up a notch.
Daniela Yaakovi represented three lesbian couples for whom she petitioned the court to have their children's birth certificates list two "mothers." In each case, Yaakovi succeeded.
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In one case, Judge Oved Elias of the Petah Tikva Family Court ruled, "Applicant 2, who is not the biological mother, shall be entered in every registry, including the Population Registry, as another parent of the minor. He shall be registered as her son for all matters, and a birth certificate shall be issued for the minor with both applicants' therein recorded as the minor's mothers."
Yaakovi said on Sunday, "These are precedent-setting rulings, in practice an expression of the existing situation and the parental connection that is established from the moment of birth. They will bring to an end the discriminatory practice of the Ministry of the Interior that refuses to issue minors birth certificates with the names of two parents of the same sex."
The cases did not address families where both parents are men.
