Maryland

A federal court in Maryland today ordered the U.S. Department of State to recognize the U.S. citizenship and issue a U.S. passport to 1-year old Kessem Kiviti, a baby born abroad to a same-sex married couple who was refused recognition as a U.S. citizen from the moment of her birth by the Trump Administration despite federal law giving her that right.

Today, Immigration Equality, Lambda Legal, and pro bono counsel Morgan Lewis filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Maryland against the U.S. Department of State for refusing to recognize the citizenship of Kessem Kiviti, the daughter of married U.S. citizens Roee and Adiel Kiviti. The State Department’s policy treats the children of U.S. citizens in same-sex marriages as “born out of wedlock,” unconstitutionally stripping their children of citizenship.

Despite the Trump administration’s most recent late Friday night attempt to wrap up this old fish of a “policy” in today’s newspaper, it’s still the same old rotting fish.

Yesterday, members and allies of the LGBT community raised their voices for justice as the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the six cases collectively known as Obergefell v. Hodges, challenging discriminatory state bans on marriage for same-sex couples. But just miles from the courthouse steps, in Baltimore, a community is in turmoil, mourning the death of another black man while in police custody.