State backs putting both fathers on same-sex adoption birth certificates

In a state response to the High Court of Justice, the attorney general declared Monday that in cases when two men adopt a child together, they should both be registered as the fathers on the child’s birth certificate.

However, the response, which was sent out in a press release by the Justice Ministry, noted that Interior Minister Aryeh Deri, whose ministry is responsible for documenting the population, holds that only one father should be registered.

In the response, which addressed a petition by two men seeking to have both their names put on their adopted child’s paperwork, the attorney general maintained that not allowing same-sex couples to register as parents would be discriminatory toward them and negatively impact the interests of the child.

In cases of full adoption, when a child is totally separated from the biological parents and transferred to a new family, both fathers should be registered in the birth certificate and not just one of them, the attorney general ruled.

The opinion was given as passions on the issue of LGBT parents flared, a day after activists across the country held a protest strike over an amendment to surrogacy laws that denies the right for gay men to use the process to father children. Protests were held in several cities and more than 100,000 people joined a demonstration in Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square against the legislation, which was passed on Wednesday.

“The attorney general is of the opinion that preventing the registration of both parents in such a case impacts the best interests of the adopted child, the equality between heterosexual and single sex couples, and between children adopted by these family units, for no good reason,” the statement read.

The response noted that Deri, who leads the ultra-Orthodox Shas party, is of the opinion that both fathers should not be registered on the birth certificate, among other things because the certificate’s purpose is to reflect the factual situation at the moment of birth.

Although birth certificates cannot usually be altered in any way, exceptions are made in cases of adoption and surrogacy, in order to protect the privacy of the original parents and of the children.

Deri said in a statement that he is against putting two fathers on a birth certificate because “it is a question of moral values that is subject to public controversy in Israeli society and the decision on it must be made in the democratic arena.”

The state attorney stressed that the subject under discussion was not the right for same-sex couples to register as parents in the population registry or on a child’s identification papers, as those matters have already been ruled legal, but rather a matter of interpreting legislation and applying it equally.

Same-sex couples can be approved for adoption under Israeli law, but in practice only a handful of such couples have adopted children in the past nine years. As a recourse, some same-sex couples adopt babies from other countries.

The removal for a bill last week of a clause allowing surrogacy for same-sex male couples was met by widespread anger from Israel’s homosexual community, with the Agudah umbrella organization calling a nationwide strike Sunday which was observed by tens of thousands.

The law extended eligibility to single women, but not to men, effectively preventing homosexual couples from having a child via a surrogate.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.