The Department of State has ended
appeals in two cases challenging the U.S. citizenship of children
born abroad to married same-sex, U.S. citizen couples.
On Monday, the government withdrew its
appeal in Kiviti v. Pompeo and decided not to appeal a ruling
in Mize-Gregg v. Pompeo. The State Department argued that the
children were “born out of wedlock” because they were not
biologically related to both parents. However, the children of
heterosexual U.S. citizens born abroad are automatically considered
U.S. citizens.
The White House had defended the
policy, saying that it “pertained to surrogacy” not the sexual
orientation of the parents.
LGBT legal group Lambda Legal and
Immigration Equality represented the families.
“Every court to have looked at this
issue has concluded that the Department of State cannot refuse to
recognize the U.S. citizenship of children born abroad to married
same-sex couples,” Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, senior attorney at Lambda
Legal, said in a statement. “We are gratified that the victories of
the Kiviti and Mize-Gregg families are now final and we hope that the
Trump Administration and the State Department will abide by these
courts’ decisions when it encounters other families headed by
same-sex couples. No family should have to go through what the Kiviti
and Mize-Gregg families endured.”
“These two cases squarely rejected
the State Department’s attempt to insert a harmful, baseless
biology requirement into the citizenship protections children of
married citizen parents receive. In so doing, these courts kept the
promise of Obergefell that married same-sex couples are
entitled to the full range of marital protections, and that includes
the right to be recognized as their children’s parents regardless
of who has a biological connection.” said Karen Loewy, senior
counsel at Lambda Legal, referring to the 2015 Supreme Court case
that struck down state laws and constitutional amendments that
prohibited gay and lesbian couples from marrying.