DES MOINES, Iowa – A Polk County judge has ordered the state health department to issue a birth certificate for a 2-year-old girl with both names of her lesbian parents.
In a ruling Wednesday, Judge Eliza Ovrom cites the Iowa Supreme Court case striking down Iowa’s same-sex marriage ban.
Heather and Melissa Gartner, of Des Moines, sued the department, saying the agency’s 2009 decision to list only Heather as a parent deprives their daughter, Mackenzie, of the protections and benefits of two legal parents being present from birth.
Heather is Mackenzie’s biological mother. Heather and Melissa were married in Polk County three months before Mackenzie’s birth.
The couple’s attorney, Camilla Taylor, says the court affirmed “what should have been clear” to the department. Agency spokeswoman Polly Carver-Kimm says the department is reviewing the ruling.
