RICHMOND � The Virginia Supreme Court ruled today that the state must provide new birth certificates for children born in Virginia and adopted by gay couples in other states. The 5-2 ruling overturned a lower court's decision that the state is not required to issue new birth certificates for such children.
Three gay couples filed a lawsuit in 2002 after they were unable to get the state Department of Vital Records to give new birth certificates to their adopted children. The two male couples adopted the children in Washington, D.C., and now live in Bethesda, Md., and Lancaster, Pa. The other couple adopted in New York, where they still live.
"We've believed all along that it was simply a matter of common sense � that when a child has two legal parents, both of those parents should be reflected on the birth certificate," said Rebecca Glenberg, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia, which represented the couples.
Richmond Circuit Judge Randall G. Johnson said in February 2004 that requiring the state to issue new birth certificates with the names of the children's adoptive parents instead of their birth parents conflicts with Virginia's policy of prohibiting joint adoption by unmarried couples.
"This case is about issuing birth certificates under the provisions of Virginia law," the high court wrote in its decision Friday. "It is not about homosexual marriage, nor is it about 'same-sex' relationships, nor is it about adoption policy in Virginia."
I'm not so sure about that. The Court ruled on statutory interpretation grounds, as the law in question says the Registrar "shall" issue a new birth certificate listing "the adoptive parents" if they present documentation of an adoption valid in another state of a child born in Virginia. It says nothing about the gender of "the adoptive parents." The Court did not reach a separate challenge on equal protection grounds.
I don't know about you, but I found it pretty surprising that five of the seven Supreme Court justices of Virginia would do this. It reminds me of how some Ohio courts have been using that state's anti-gay-marriage amendment to invalidate domestic violence laws, which I posted about here. Bully for all of them!
Details here from the AP via PilotOnline.com. The Court's opinion is here.