Same-sex parents want change on birth certificates

Laws in Guernsey must change to allow the names of both parents in a single-sex relationship to be on their children's birth certificates, a pair of parents have said.

Under current law, only one parent in a same-sex relationship can be named on the paperwork. The Policy and Resource Committee (P&R) agreed to change the law more than five years ago and said it was in the process of changing this legislation.

Cat, who is currently not listed on her daughter's birth certificate, said: "We've just waited, we're still waiting".

P&R leaders said a consultation into such a change was due and they hoped to move the process along "as quickly as possible".

Cat and Rachel, now separated, have two daughters: Aoife, aged 12, and seven-year-old Lola.

Aoife was born in Australia and has both Rachel and Cat listed on her birth certificate, but Lola was born in the bailiwick so only has Rachel listed as a parent.

Rachel said: "It's sad for us, and it's frustrating. But we're thinking more from Lola's point of view.

"Her sister has both her parents on the birth certificate, and she's of dual nationality because she's Australian."

Rachel and Cat started a petition in 2018 to urge the laws to be changed to account for same-sex parents and those who did not have a mother-and-father set-up.

They said they hoped that, if there were changes, they would include retrospective changes so Cat could be added to Lola's documentation.

Rachel said about Lola: "Later in life, she's probably like questioning a sense of belonging and there's a lot of things that go with that, because the birth certificate is the single most important document that you receive in your life, and hers doesn't reflect her true family and her true parentage."

Answering a written question put forward by Deputy Jayne Ozanne, the committee said the "work is more complicated and nuanced than anticipated" because of other legislation that would be impacted.

Deputy Lindsay de Sausmarez, President of Policy and Resources (P&R), said: "Members of the public should be consulted on it I would hope in the next few weeks.

"We're just waiting for responses to come back from those committees that we've consulted with.

"As far as P&R is concerned, we're good to go. We're really keen to get this consultation out there and to move this piece of work along as quickly as possible.

"I do have to manage expectations - it is not a quick process."

Jayne Ozanne OBE, Vice-President of the Committee for Employment & Social Security, said: "It's time we got on with with making these decisions and prioritise all groups within society.

"I believe that an island is judged by how we treat our most vulnerable and, sadly, those of us who are LGBT do often find ourselves at the raw end of the law."

Ellie Jones, CEO of LGBTQ+ support charity Liberate, said the process "is happening".

However, she added: "But the wheels of government seem to turn incredibly slow.

"There's a lot of people just left in a precarious position where you've only got one legal parent on a birth certificate, and birth certificates have never been a biological record, so it's not something that should be controversial.

"The UK have had it for gone a decade now and so, really, it's just kind of: 'Please hurry up and get that sorted.'"

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