A bill aimed at updating Connecticut law to recognize both parents of a same-sex couple as the legal parents of their children just passed from the state’s judiciary committee to a vote on the house floor.
Currently same-sex couples in Connecticut are required to go through the additional hurdle of second-parent adoption, while heterosexual couples need only sign an acknowledgment of parenthood. The Connecticut Parentage Act (5178; now HB6321), aims to fix this inequity.
“Heterosexual couples are able to prepare for the arrival of their baby without the burden of a complex legal gauntlet,” one LGBTQ parent in Connecticut told Yale Law School Today. “While they’re decorating nurseries, we’re going be speaking with an attorney about how to ensure our child is protected in the event that something happens to me. It’s important for us to verify that [my wife] will be a legal parent in all ways, shapes and forms.”
To help tackle this problem, a Yale Law School professor and dozens of students founded a clinic and have been working since 2019 to advocate for the passage of the Act into law.
“Connecticut is the only New England state without protections or paths to parentage for non-biological parents to establish their legal relationship with their children,” states the clinic’s Yale Law School web page. “This means the legal relationship between many of the state’s LGBTQ parents and their children is insecure, which leaves children vulnerable.”
“The Connecticut Parentage Act solves the problems in our parentage law,” the clinic’s Professor Anne Urowsky NeJaime told Yale Law School Today. “It satisfies constitutional requirements. It reflects the diversity of families in our state. It protects children who are vulnerable under current law. It brings order to an area where there is uncertainty. It updates law that is outdated and it reflects best practices.”
Read the complete Yale Law School Today story here.
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