16-month-old twins living in Los Angeles are at the center of battle involving naturalization, immigration, and LGBT rights.
16-month-old twins living in Los Angeles are at the center of battle involving naturalization, immigration, and LGBT rights, reports The Guardian. One of them has been granted U.S. citizenship while the other faces risk of deportation. Their fathers, Andrew and Elad Dvash-Banks, were married in Canada in 2010, and both are listed on the children's birth certificates, notes the New York Daily News. The Associated Press reports that each had given sperm to fertilize the eggs of an anonymous donor, and the twins were born in Canada. The situation got very confusing when the family started preparing to move to the U.S. The couple was required to provide DNA samples, and it was determined that Andrew was the biological father of one of the boys and Elad the other.
As Andrew is a U.S. citizen and Elad hails from Israel, Aiden, the child carrying the genes of the former, was the only one to receive U.S. citizenship. Ethan, who is genetically linked to Elad, was given only a tourist visa, which expired in December. The family is fighting the documentation decision in court with the help of the advocacy group Immigration Equality, according to The Guardian. A lawsuit brought against the U.S. State Department claims discrimination against LGBT couples and their children. "The State Department is refusing to acknowledge the citizenship of children whose parents are same-sex married couples," Aaron Morris, the family's attorney, said in a statement. "This policy is not only illegal, it is unconstitutional."
