Ireland to List Both Same-Sex Parents on Child’s Birth Certificate

Ireland will soon allow both same-sex parents to be listed on their child's birth certificate for the first time.

On Monday, Health Minister Simon Harris announced that the Emerald Isle will be moving forward with new regulations intended to prevent discrimination against LGBTQ+ families. Under current policy, only the parent that is biologically related to a child is permitted to have their name printed on the baby's birth records.

The updated guidelines will make room for same-sex couples who concieve using a sperm donor to both be considered their child's legal parents.

Under current procedure, a lesbian who uses an anonymous sperm donor to have a baby with her legally wedded wife would have to apply for guardianship to have any rights to the child. Ireland voted in favor of marriage equality in May 2015 in a historic referendum, with 62 percent of voters supporting the freedom to marry.

However, there remain loopholes in the law that will continue to be used to target gay male couples. The proposed updates do not cover same-sex parents who conceieve using IVF, meaning that a gay man will not automatically be deemed his child's legal guardian if his husband uses an egg donor to have a baby. He would be forced to go through an expensive, taxing legal process to claim that right.

Equality for Children, a nonprofit which campaigned to raise awareness of the discriminatory policies, blasted the new regulations. In a statement, Founder Ranae Von Meding claimed the updates are "not a win" for same-sex parents.

"The signing of this commencement order has already been delayed seven times over the last five years, and only a fraction of LGBT+ families and their children will be covered by it," said Von Meding, who has two children with her wife. "My family, along with many others, will continue to be left behind."

Von Meding told the Irish women's news site Her that "50 percent of children would be left behind by this legislation.

As theIrish Independent was the first to report, Harris pledged to continue working with LGBTQ+ families " in coming weeks and months" to address the shortcomings of the new guidelines.

RELATED | Watch a Northern Ireland Bar Celebrate the Start of Marriage Equality