A gay couple has filed a lawsuit this week because one of their twins was denied US citizenship.
After getting married in Canada in 2011, Canadian-American dual citizen Andrew and Israeli-bron Elad decided they wanted to have biological children.
The two men then had twins, Ethan and Aiden Dvash-Banks, through one surrogate mother who used both of their sperm.
More specifically, the two used assisted reproductive technology or ART. Through an anonymous egg donor, a kind surrogate, and both their sperm, they were able to bring their two children into life in 2016.
Unfortunately, when the family decided to move to the US, the immigration system raised a red flag. The rules say that there has to be a DNA match to a US citizen for a child to gain citizenship.
After collecting $900 DNA samples from the children, it was determined that Ethan isn’t biologically related to Andrew. This means, Andrew doesn’t get US citizenship under the law.
As a work around, Andrew was advised to sponsor Ethan as his “step-son” in order to get him a green card or adopt him (despite already being on the child’s birth certificate as a father).
Instead, Andrew and Elad have decided to sue.
Andrew said:
“I just can’t stop thinking about how I’m going to explain to him when he’s older that he is different than his twin brother.
“His twin brother is American but he’s a green card holder.”
“It’s 2017 now. There’s so many different types of families. Look at us. In the LGBT community, there’s so many different types of families and I really feel excluded in a way because of this law,” he said.
I would love the opportunity to have this law changed so the government will recognize him as my son as it should be.”
Now, Andrew and Elad are being represented by an LGBT+ immigrant rights group, have filed the case this past Monday, and are claiming that the State Department is discriminating against them.
Their goal is to get the same citizenship rights for Ethan that his brother Aiden has.
We'll keep you updated, should there be any major updates.
h/t: PinkNews
