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Full federal appeals court hears whether La. must put 2 adoptive dads on birth certificate
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Associated Press
1/18/2011
"The question of whether Louisiana must put both parents' names on birth certificates of children adopted by gay couples goes before 16 federal appeals court judges on Wednesday.
"Oren Adar and Mickey Ray Smith of San Diego want the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold a unanimous three-judge ruling and a district judge's decision that both of their names must go on their son's birth certificate.
"...Kenneth D. Upton Jr., an attorney for the civil rights group Lambda Legal, represents Smith and Adar. He argues that if the registrar's position stands, it would create a 'gaping loophole' in the doctrine that states must give full faith and credit to each others' laws.
"'An exception that permits states arbitrarily to ignore legal parent-child relationships as families travel throughout the United States would create unprecedented chaos and harm,' he wrote."