The Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday
upheld a law that requires biological parents to be listed on birth
certificates even if the child is subsequently adopted by a gay or
lesbian couple.
Last year, Little Rock Circuit Judge
Tim Fox found that the law violated the constitutional due process
rights of adoptive gay couples.
Fox agreed with plaintiffs who argued
that the Supreme Court's finding that gay couples have a
constitutional right to marry effectively voided state laws requiring
a child's biological parents to be listed.
Writing for the majority, Arkansas
Supreme Court Associate Justice Jo Hart wrote: “In the situation
involving the female spouse of a biological mother, the female spouse
does not have the same biological nexus to the child that the
biological mother or the biological father has. It does not violate
equal protection to acknowledge basic biological truths.”
Arkansas Associate Justice Paul
Danielson called the majority “simply and demonstrably wrong” in
his dissenting opinion. Danielson said that “the inclusion of a
parent's name on a child's birth certificate is a benefit associated
with and flowing from marriage” and that the Supreme Court's
Obergefell ruling “requires that this benefit be accorded to
same-sex spouses and opposite-sex spouses with equal force.”
The three couples who challenged the
law are represented by Cheryl Maples.
“There's no requirement that DNA be
given or that there be a biological relationship to a child to get on
a birth certificate for a father, for the non-birth parent,” Maples
told the AP. “All you have to do is legitimize the child and
you're entitled, if you're heterosexual. This is wrong.”