GLAD has joined a friend-of-the-court brief together with National Center for Lesbian Rights and David Marcus Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP opposing the government’s decision to NOT grant citizenship to a child of the Dvash-Bankses. Andrew and Elad have two children born through surrogacy, one who is biologically related to Andrew, an American citizen and one who is to Elad, who is a married resident but not citizen of the USA. The government’s policy is to grant citizenship to the child who is biologically related to an American citizen, but not to the child of a non-citizen who is married to a citizen. The policy goes as far as declaring the children as born “out of wedlock,” a clear de-legitimization of same-gender marriage.

The U.S. Constitution protects the right to the benefits of marriage, including the ability to pass citizenship to children. This policy is unjust and a violation of the constitution.

The briefs were filed in the case of E.J. D.-B., a Minor, Elad Dvash-Banks as the guardian ad litem, and Andrew Mason Dvash-Banks v. U.S. Department of State and Michael Pompeo on December 19, 2019.

Read the full brief here