Lawsuit: Idaho paternity law unfair for same-sex couples

Boise, Idaho (AP) — A 37-year-old Nampa woman is challenging Idaho's laws on artificial insemination, paternity and vital statistics, saying they discriminate against same-sex parents.

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday on behalf of Adela Ayala and her 4-year-old daughter, who is the biological daughter of Ayala's former same-sex partner, The Spokesman-Review reported (http://bit.ly/2fooVcX ). Ayala had been with her partner since 2007, but at the time their daughter was born in 2012, Idaho did not allow same-sex marriage. Now the estranged partner has no legal relationship to the child.

"All we ask for is to be treated like an opposite-sex couple, whether they're married or not," said Howard Belodoff, associated director of Idaho Legal Aid Services, which filed the lawsuit on behalf of Ayala. "In the eyes of Idaho law, the non-biological same-sex partner really doesn't have any rights."

According to the lawsuit, opposite-sex couples that have a child by artificial insemination only need to sign a form to establish legal paternity but same-sex couples must go through adoption procedures to obtain any legal relationship to the child.

The lawsuit argues that a same-sex couple and an opposite-sex couple that decide to have a child by artificial insemination are equally established as a couple and should be able to have equal protections under the law.

"That artificial insemination statute is a piece of work - it's from 20 or more years ago," Belodoff said.

Same-sex marriage became legal in Idaho in 2014.

The Idaho Attorney General's office had no immediate comment on the lawsuit.

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Information from: The Spokesman-Review, http://www.spokesman.com

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The Gayly – November 18, 2016 @ 2:40 p.m.