Oklahoma abides by out-of-state adoptions by gays

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Oklahoma's attorney general recently decided that when a child is born in that state and adopted in another state by a same-sex couple, Oklahoma must recognize the adoption and issue a birth certificate listing both homosexual partners as parents.

Other states are also grappling with this issue.

Up until the decision last month, Oklahoma -- which doesn't allow same-sex "marriage" or adoptions by homosexual couples -- had refused to list both partners in such out-of-state adoptions. Instead, the Department of Health had treated it as a single-parent adoption, listing just one of the homosexual partners as parent.

"Our dilemma was knowing that same-sex adoption was invalid in Oklahoma ... so to issue a birth certificate reflecting a same-sex union to us seemed to be contradictory," said Timothy Tardibono, assistant general counsel for the Oklahoma Health Department.

When a child is adopted, the original birth certificate is typically sealed by the birth state, which then issues a new birth certificate listing the adoptive father and mother.

Mr. Tardibono said several homosexual couples from other states wanted both names listed on their children's Oklahoma certificates, and "it was inevitable" that a lawsuit would result, so last September he asked Attorney General Drew Edmondson to issue a formal opinion clarifying Oklahoma's position.

Gregory Hampel and Edmund Swaya were among the couples who wanted both their names listed as parents on the birth certificate of 2-year-old Vivian, who was born in Oklahoma but adopted in Washington state, where the two men live.

When Oklahoma issued a birth certificate in June listing only Mr. Hampel as the father, the homosexual-rights group Lambda Legal got involved, contemplating a lawsuit.

"All we're asking is that the states respect these adoptions," said Brian Chase, a lawyer with Lambda Legal. "This isn't forcing Oklahoma to permit same-sex adoption. ... It's just about each state respecting the other [states'] paperwork."

Mr. Swaya must be listed on the birth certificate so he can make medical and educational decisions regarding Vivian, and take her on international flights, Mr. Chase said.

Oklahoma's attorney general, a Democrat, resolved the issue in a March 19 opinion, which said the "full faith and credit" clause of the U.S. Constitution, "requires Oklahoma to recognize properly entered sister state judgments." Oklahoma must respect parent-child relationships in other states, even if they aren't valid in Oklahoma, Mr. Edmondson said.

Mr. Tardibono said a birth certificate listing both men as parents has since been issued for Vivian, and a similar birth certificate has been issued for the child of a homosexual couple from Massachusetts, he said.

But the Oklahoma Senate on Monday passed a Republican-sponsored measure that would reverse the attorney general's decision, stating Oklahoma should not recognize out-of-state adoptions by same-sex couples. The proposed law now goes to the state House.

"A key component of the radical homosexual agenda is to take away the right of states to regulate and define adoptions, just as they are trying to redefine marriage across the nation," Sen. James Williamson, a Tulsa Republican and author of the Senate proposal, said yesterday.

Other states have also dealt with this. A Mississippi judge ordered the state in March 2003 to issue a birth certificate for a 5-year-old boy who was born in Mississippi but adopted by a lesbian couple from Vermont. Lambda Legal had sued the state.

Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union lost a Virginia case two months ago, when a Richmond Circuit Court judge said that forcing the state to issue birth certificates listing unmarried adoptive parents from other states contradicts Virginia's public policy prohibiting unmarried couples from adopting, the Washington Blade, a weekly newspaper for homosexuals, reported.