A story in The Des Moines Register yesterday illustrates the slippery slope that is inherent in the Iowa Supreme Court’s ruling last year striking down Iowa’s Defense of Marriage Act. A gay couple “married” in Des Moines are now suing Iowa Department of Public Health over a birth certificate.
A same-sex couple married in Des Moines last year has filed a lawsuit against two state health department officials, after the department refused to name both women on their daughter’s birth certificate.
Heather Lynn Martin Gartner, 38, and Melissa McCoy Gartner, 39, filed the Polk County lawsuit last week on behalf of their second child, who was born in September.
The couple argues that the birth certificate – which lists only Heather Gartner, the biological mother – incorrectly labels their daughter Mackenzie as a child born out of wedlock.
The Iowa Department of Public Health in March rejected the couple’s request on grounds that Melissa Gartner had not legally adopted Mackenzie and was not biologically related.
Iowa Department of Public Health Director Tom Newton, who is named in the lawsuit, said in a statement Thursday that his office will fight the claim. Newton said current state law only allows the name of a "husband" to appear on birth certificates when the mother is married, unless a judge grants parental rights to someone else.
Newton said naming a lesbian couple as parents without a legal adoption could jeopardize the rights of a biological father.
This is simple biology. The Iowa Supreme Court can make all of the rulings that they would like, but it doesn’t change the fact that to have a child it takes a biological father (even if the father is a sperm donor) and a biological mother. Two lesbians can’t conceive therefore they can’t both be listed on the birth certificate. The current law is set up to protect the rights of biological fathers, and shouldn’t be circumvented because some homosexuals want to pretend that boundaries for marriage and family don’t exist.
Kudos to the Iowa Department of Public Health Director, Tom Newton, for sticking up for common sense.
