ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The first couple to be issued a same-sex marriage license in Florida sued the state Thursday, saying that the Bureau of Vital Statistics still won’t allow hospitals to list same-sex parents on birth certificates.
Cathy Pareto and Karla Arguello of Miami filed the lawsuit in federal court in Tallahassee. Pareto and Arguello had twins on Aug. 6.
Two other married, same-sex couples also are part of the lawsuit.
In the hours after giving birth, Pareto said she and her wife were told by the hospital records manager that both their names could not be on the birth certificate.
Advertisement
Pareto said that if a married man and woman had fertility problems and the couple had to use a sperm donor to conceive a child, the state wouldn’t deny the husband the right to be on the birth certificate even though he would be the nonbiological father.