Nebraska birth forms to list both names of same-sex spouses

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services has quietly changed state policy and plans to list the names of both same-sex spouses on their children's birth certificates, although it has not revealed how that change will look.

The change was disclosed in court documents filed Tuesday by state attorneys in lawsuit filed on behalf of several same-sex couples last year challenging Nebraska's ban on gay marriage. The U.S. Supreme Court effectively legalized gay marriage nationwide in June, but the couples and the American Civil Liberties Union are pushing a Nebraska judge to officially strike down the state ban.

HHS spokeswoman Leah Bucco-White on Thursday confirmed that the agency has begun the process to list both a child's biological parent and the parent's same-sex spouse on the child's birth certificate. Until the process is complete, the state's current birth certificate form — which does not include a place for same-sex spouses — will be used, Bucco-White said.

She declined to answer questions about when the change would be made and how the new birth certificate forms will be worded.

State officials initially fought the change, arguing that complaints about birth certificates came from couples who weren't part of the original lawsuit. That objection was dismissed last month by U.S. District Judge Joseph Bataillon, who ruled that the original allegations that the ban denied various marriage rights and responsibilities "can be construed as encompassing the birth-certificate issue."

Bataillon ordered the state and ACLU to submit arguments about whether the state should be forced — though a court injunction — to include the names of both same-sex spouses on Nebraska birth certificates.

But the state's response, filed Tuesday, said the injunction was no longer necessary because Health and Human Services officials promised to make the change.

The ACLU said a promise isn't enough; the organization wants an injunction.

"If they have decided to start listing 'parent' and 'parent' with equal dignity, that's great," ACLU Nebraska legal director Amy Miller said. "It does not change the fact that this case needs a ruling from the judge, and the state's efforts to avoid a ruling are really inexplicable."

Miller said she has concerns about how same-sex spouses will be listed on state birth certificates. She said her office has received calls from family attorneys in the last two weeks who have been told that birth certificates issued to same-sex parents will list the non-biological parent simply as "friend."

Bucco-White declined to answer a question about whether that was the agency's intention. She directed questions to the Nebraska Attorney General's Office, where spokeswoman Suzanne Gage didn't respond to the question about how same-sex spouses would be listed on birth certificates.

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The Gayly - 11/5/2015 @ 2:42 p.m. CST