A gay couple in New Orleans who requested both names to be listed on their adopted child’s birth certificate was denied Tuesday by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The unmarried New York couple, Oren Adar and Mickey Smith, adopted their Louisiana-born son in their homestate in 2006, later requesting the birth certificate from Louisiana’s state registrar for purposes of health insurance, the Wall Street Journal reported. The state denied the request according to Louisiana law which only allows adoption for couples who are married. The state’s resolve was to place one parent’s name on the birth certificate, not both.
Adar and Smith sued in 2006, but despite their efforts to overturn Louisiana’s decision, a federal appeals court denied the couple’s request based on their failure to “state a claim for violations of the full faith and credit and equal protection clauses of the U.S. Constitution.”
Lambda Legal, who sued on behalf of the couple, will aim to change Louisiana law “in order to stabilize and standardize respect for parent-child relationships for all adoptive children,” the group said.
“This decision leaves adopted children and their parents vulnerable in their interactions with officials from other states,” said Kenneth D. Upton, a same-sex rights lawyer for Lamba Legal.
