The government of Jersey has drafted new legislation to provide equal rights to same-sex parents. This bill, brought forward by Deputy and Assistant Minister for Children, Louise Doublet, is intended to rectify current laws under which only a female mother and male father can be registered on a birth certificate in Jersey. The new law will permit both same-sex parents to be registered as parents on a birth certificate.
This progressive proposal will serve to amend the Marriage and Civil Status (Jersey) Law 2001 and the Children (Jersey) Law 2002. The legislation has several specific aims:
- To enable both same-sex parents to be named on a Jersey birth certificate.
- To automatically provide parental responsibility to both same-sex parents.
- To provide legal parent status and parental responsibility to opposite-sex civil partners, equating their rights with those of married couples.
- To offer legal parent status and parental responsibility to parents whose child was born through surrogacy.
- To allow for step-parents to acquire parental rights through agreement.
In a post to her Facebook account, Doublet, an advocate for the rights of same-sex parents for many years, indicated her satisfaction with the progress of the proposed law. Doublet also confirmed that the proposed law is scheduled for debate in February 2024.
For more details, please refer to the original coverage on JURIST – News.