Conn. can take a stand for equality

Connecticut has been a leader in LGBTQ equality, but when it comes to legally protecting relationships between LGBTQ parents and their children, we have uncharacteristically fallen behind.

Recently, in rejecting a petition for certiorari in which the state of Indiana sought to strip from children born to same-sex married parents the security and protection of the marital presumption of parentage, the U.S. Supreme Court once again affirmed that states have an obligation to provide all children equal access to the security of legal parentage regardless of the gender of their parents. This is a tremendous relief, but also a reminder that Connecticut must act so that our laws are clear and inclusive regardless of what happens at the court. By passing the Connecticut Parentage Act, Connecticut would continue to lead on LGBTQ equality.

Indiana, like every state, maintains a marital presumption of parentage. When a married woman gives birth, the law treats a male spouse as the legal father, whether or not he is the biological father. Two years after its landmark marriage equality ruling in Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court held in Pavan v. Smith that Arkansas must identify a birth mother’s female spouse as a parent on the child’s birth certificate, just as it does for a male spouse. Consistent with this precedent, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals in Box v. Henderson held that Indiana’s refusal to apply its marital presumption to same-sex couples violates the Constitution.

Yet the Indiana Attorney General incorrectly insisted that the state’s marital presumption statute requires a genetic connection between parent and child, and asking our country’s highest court to exclude same-sex couples from the invaluable protections that legal parentage provides. The marital presumption ensures, at birth, that children born to a married couple are the legal children of both spouses, entitled to the benefits that legal status affords, including custody, decision making, health insurance and inheritance rights. Indiana sought to make LGBTQ parents legal strangers to their children and to force these parents to undergo a time-consuming, expensive and invasive process of adoption to secure legal parentage.

Pavan, Obergefell and now the court’s denial of Indiana’s petition in Box make clear that the Constitution requires states to treat same-sex and different-sex couples equally. This includes treating nonbiological mothers in married same-sex couples as legal parents, just as the state treats nonbiological fathers in married different-sex couples as legal parents.

Indiana pressed its case at a moment when the issue of equality for LGBTQ families, particularly nonbiological parents, is again a subject of fierce national debate. In October, in Davis v. Edmold, Justices Alito and Thomas expressed their disdain for Obergefell and suggested that government employees should be able to refuse service based on personal religious beliefs. In November, the court heard argument in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, where Catholic Social Services refuses to certify same-sex couples as foster parents even though its contract as well as local law require nondiscrimination. While we can breathe a sigh of relief at the court’s rejection of Indiana’s petition today, LGBTQ parents and their children are still worried about what may come next.

Connecticut has the power to protect LGBTQ families and their children and to send a strong message that our state stands for equality and security for all by passing the Connecticut Parentage Act, or CPA, this session.

The gaps in Connecticut’s parentage laws create vulnerabilities for all children, and they fall particularly hard on the LGBTQ community. Connecticut’s parentage laws still use the language of “husband” and “wife” that other states have abandoned and courts have found unconstitutional. Connecticut is the only New England state with no statutory parentage protections for children born to nonbiological parents who are not married. Connecticut has not given same-sex couples access to voluntary acknowledgments of parentage, which allow parents to establish their status while still at the hospital without court proceedings, an imperative in the time of COVID-19. And Connecticut has no protections for children born through assisted reproduction to unmarried parents.

The CPA ensures that all children in Connecticut have equal access to the security of legal parentage and that Connecticut’s parentage statutes remain constitutional and inclusive regardless of the marital status, gender, or sexual orientation of parents or the circumstances of a child’s birth. With advocacy from a broad coalition of families and organizations (working as the We Care Coalition) the CPA received strong bipartisan legislative support in 2020, but the session was cut short due to COVID-19. This session, Connecticut must act to ensure there is clear, state-level policy that respects and protects all children and families.