Oklahoma Backs Down, Issues Birth Certificate To Baby With Two Dads

Oklahoma Backs Down, Issues Birth Certificate To Baby With Two Dads
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff


Posted: April 5, 2004 2:09 pm. ET
Updated: April 5, 2004 8:01 p.m. ET

(Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) Two-year-old Vivian is like most kids her age, curious, active and loving. That love is directed at her two dads. The tot has lived with her parents, Gregory Hampel and Edmund Swaya, in Seattle, Washington since shortly after she was born in Oklahoma.

To ensure Vivian is cared for properly should anything happen to either of her dads, Hampel and Swaya requested a vital birth record showing the couple as joint parents.

Despite a legal direction which permits co-adoption the Oklahoma Health Department refused.

After nearly two years in a legal tug of war, Hampel and Swaya turned to Lambda Legal which today released a letter to the department urging it to follow the law.

"The Health Department does not have authority to decide who gets a birth certificate or who is a legal parent," said Brian Chase, Staff Attorney for Lambda Legal.

Within hours the department said it had begun issuing the birth certificates to same-gender couples in other states who adopt children in Oklahoma.

"Because same-sex adoption is illegal in Oklahoma, we were uncertain how to address an out-of-state adoption," said Timothy Tardibono, assistant general counsel for the Health Department.

But, that is disputed by Lambda Legal which points to an advisory issued by Oklahoma State Attorney General, W.A. Drew Edmonson, at the request of the former health commissioner.

The advisory states that under the federal Constitution and Oklahoma laws, the state is required to issue accurate birth certificates for children legally adopted outside of Oklahoma including to children adopted by same-sex couples.

Tardibono said because the format used for birth certificates has not been changed, the document will list Hampel as the father and Swaya as the mother.

But the decision has upset some Republican lawmakers. Rep. Thad Balkman (R-Norman) said he is working on legislation to block same-sex couples from jointly adopting.

©365Gay.com® 2004