Florida has announced the state intends to update marriage applications and death certificates, making the documents gender neutral.
Instead of having a section to fill out labeled as “husband” and “wife”, the updated documents will have a “spouse” section. The improvements to legal documents are one more step towards equality in America.
Equality Florida submitted 1,266 signatures to the state to create incentive for the state to provide a more inclusive option. Hannah Willard, Equality Florida’s marriage issues coordinator stated that “Equality Florida is committed to making sure the state of Florida fully implements marriage equality and treats LGBT families equally under the law.”
This update will not effect birth certificates though. Same-sex couples around the United States are battling to have both parents recognized on their children’s birth certificates.
Miami couple Cathy Pareto and Karla Arguello filed a lawsuit earlier this month in a Tallahassee federal court. The lawsuit, against the state, claims that the Bureau of Vital Statistics will not allow Florida hospitals to list both parents on birth certificates if they are same-sex. Pareto and Arguello were told on August 6, that both their names could not appear on their twins birth certificates.
Pareto said in a statement about the lawsuit that “The state’s refusal to recognize that they have two parents and to list both of us on the birth certificates is demeaning and hurtful.”
Equality Florida CEO and co-founder Nadine Smith said, “Florida’s going to waste time, waste money and leave parents who would be celebrating the birth of their children in uncertainty because both parents aren’t included on the birth certificate.”
She also added that it was “wrong and mean-spirited” for the hospital to refuse listing both parents.
An Equality Florida press release states that “state officials currently insist that only the birth mother be listed on a newborn child’s birth certificate and that she be listed as single even if she is married to a woman.” The new marriage licenses and death certificates are expected to be available by mid-September.