LEGISLATION to end discrimination against same-sex couples over full parental rights will be lodged by the end of the year.
Assistant Children’s and Education Minister Louise Doublet said that the changes to the Island’s children, marriage and civil status laws would remove inequalities that exist within the law, and reflect family structures in the Island.
‘For several years I’ve advocated for the rights of same-sex parents, and I’m pleased to see that we’re now within touching distance of enshrining those rights in law, said Deputy Doublet.
If approved by the States Assembly, the legislation will:
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Allow same-sex parents to both be named on a Jersey birth certificate
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Automatically offer parental responsibility to both same-sex parents
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Give mixed-sex civil partners legal parent status and parental responsibility in the same way as a married couple
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Provide the ability to recognise parents whose child is born to a surrogate mother as legal parents of that child
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Recognise children born to parents in a civil partnership as legitimate
Deputy Doublet previously brought a proposition to the States, saying that many couples had racked up thousands of pounds in legal bills to secure full rights, as same-sex parents were not automatically given legal-parent status.
Under Jersey law, only one female mother and one male father can be registered as a child’s parents, and the person who gives birth to the child is automatically named as a parent on the birth certificate regardless of how the child was conceived.
The government received feedback from stakeholders, legal experts and Law Officers on the draft legislation over the summer.
Deputy Doublet added: ‘Our laws reflect the society they were drafted in, which means that updating the law to reflect families today is a complex process. Officers are amending 32 separate pieces of legislation, and responding to the 60 comments we’ve received as part of the consultation process.
‘To those families who are affected, I’d like to reassure them that this work remains a very high priority for me and we will continue to work extremely hard over the next eight weeks to meet our lodging deadline. It is my intention that the draft law will come into force within the next 12 months, so we will have laws that reflect and serve the full diversity of our Island’s families.’
