Louisiana Court Ruling: Both Adoptive Dads Get Their Names On Birth Certificate

The Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that both adoptive fathers in a Louisiana gay adoption case may have their names put on the child's birth certificate.

A three-judge panel unanimously upheld a district judge's ruling, ordering the state registrar to quickly issue a new certificate for the boy identified as "Infant J," and "J.C. A.-S." "Even our opponents have said this is landmark case and we're pleased the court agrees that it's wrong to punish children just because the registrar doesn't like their parents," said Kenneth Upton, the attorney for Lambda Legal who represented the couple, Oren Adar and Mickey Ray Smith of San Diego. Upton said he called Adar with news of the ruling and was told, "Can you imagine the coincidence? Right now I'm enrolling the child in school and they just asked me for a birth certificate." "You talk about great timing," Upton said. "They were just delighted."

The child was born in Shreveport, Louisiana. The adoptive fathers live in New York, where they legally adopted the child. As New York permits the birth certificate change, the Court ruled that Louisiana had to abide by the Full Faith & Credit clause of the U.S. Constitution.