HOME AFFAIRS ALLOWS GAY PARENTS BIRTH REGISTRATION

Advertorial

The department of home affairs has only now begun to include the names of both same-sex married parents on birth certificates.

Behind the Mask reports that it has taken years of lobbying and legal action, led by Lisa Sonnekus from Baby Ventures Rainbow Family, to force the department to adapt its computer systems to allow two parents of the same sex who have a child through artificial insemination to be registered as parents.

The birth certificate registration system previously would not allow the identity number of two people of the same sex to be registered as parents of a child.

“After investigating the problem at home affairs we embarked on a journey to find legal representation and Pro-bono.org assisted us to find the legal firm, Wayne van Niekerk Inc, which decided to go with a class action and get as many couples together,” Sonnekus told the website.

Nevertheless , it appears as if gay and lesbian parents will still be required to list themselves as either partner A (father) or partner B (Mother) on the current registration forms.

Same-sex marriage was legalised in South Africa in 2006, which then legally allowed same-sex couples who have children biologically to register their children as a couple. Join adoption by same-sex couples was legalised in 2002.

Get the Mamba Newsletter

Latest Comments
  1. Cubby
    Reply -
  2. tiny
    Reply -

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Send this to a friend