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A
Responsibility to Colorado Families
Phil Weinstein
Of the 45 same-sex
couples to which Colorado courts have granted birth certificates over the
last three years, virtually -- possibly, actually all -- had planned
their families together far more deliberately than most parents.
These families deserve
ALL the legal recognitions and protections which should be afforded to
every family in Colorado. Depending on the circumstances of the family,
these protections can be very important.
The historical purpose
of birth certificates is irrelevant, being devised when lesbian and gay
couples had no public voice to demand that their relationships and
families be legally recognized. Well, now they do. The legislators who
place themselves between lesbian and gay parents and their children have
absolutely no standing on the issue.
Currently, in Colorado,
having both child's mothers on the birth certificate is the only
way to legally document the relationship between a lesbian non-birth mother
and her child. Until some other way is devised (e.g. allowing adoption
in this circumstance) Colorado has the responsibility to allow birth
certificates to be used for this essential purpose.
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