Irish Couple Make History After Both Being Registered as Parents on Birth Certificate
LGBT+ history has been made. Two LGBT+ women have become the first same-sex couple in Ireland to be legally recognised as parents on their twins birth certificates.
This joyous news comes nearly a year after the Child and Family Relationships Act came into effect.
Under the legislation, same-sex female couples who conceive a child through a fertility clinic are both legally allowed to be named as parents on the child’s birth certificate.
New parents Niamh O’Sullivan and Geraldine Rea expressed their excitement about the law in a recent interview.
“It’s amazing. Finally, it’s a bit of equality. Why should we have to go to court to state that I am there if she was their birth mother?” Niamh stated.
“Why would I have to go to court? It’s just easier that I don’t now have to go to court and prove myself to be their other parent.”
According to ‘Gay Times’, before the 2015 legislation passed, female same-sex couples were required to go through a court process to re-register the birth of their child.
After going through the court, the couple would then be legally recognised as the child’s parents.
Geraldine also expressed her gratitude for the inclusive law due to the difficulties LGBT+ face when trying to become parents.
“The route to parenthood for same-sex couples is already more difficult, so taking out the court proceedings for the birth certs just makes it that little bit easier for us and for everyone else to come,” she said.
Even with this massive win for the LGBT+ community, there’s still more work that needs to be done. Currently, the law doesn’t cover same-sex couples that use a surrogate, adopt or don’t use a clinic.
The CEO of LGBT Ireland, Paula Fagan, discussed the needed reforms in a statement.
“We need further law reform in Ireland so that children can establish a legal parental relationship to both of their parents who care for them,” she said.
“This is in the best interest of children and needs to be urgently progressed.”
The government has reportedly pledged to address these reforms in the Assisted Human Reproduction Bill later this spring.
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