Should Both Lesbian Parents be on Child's Birth Certificate?

A Polk County Judge has ruled that both women in a married lesbian couple should be listed on the birth certificate of the daughter one of the women bore two years ago.

Heather Martin-Gartner and Melissa Gartner were celebrating the decision by Polk County District Judge Eliza Ovrum, reported KCCI.com.

Ovrum ruled the Iowa Department of Public Health must re-issue a birth certificate for 2-year-old Mackenzie that lists both women's name, not just birth mother Martin-Gartner's name because the couple was legally married when their daughter was born.

The women's 5-year-old son had to be legally adopted by Gartner because he was born before the couple was legally married. Both children were conceived using an anonymous sperm donor, according to the article.

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You can see a photo of the couple and their daughter here.

The ruling is more legal fallout from the Iowa Supreme Court's 2009 decision to legalize gay marriage in Iowa.  That ruling was unpopular with many conservative Iowans who a year later voted out three of the seven of the Supreme Court justices who voted for it.

Bob Eschliman is an Iowa journalist and founder of the Ben Franklin Journalism blog, wrote on the website of conservative talk show host Steve Deace  that "with a horribly skewed worldview at work, Judge Ovrom continued to rewrite the laws of Iowa and, by extension, nature."

People who feel they have been discriminated against may file complaints in their cities if the city has a civil rights law and commission. There are 24 Iowa cities with such boards, including Patch towns Ames, Cedar Falls, Iowa City, Urbandale, and West Des Moines.