High Court upholds adoption in same-sex marriages
Aviram Zino
12.9.07 Israel News
A broad panel of High Court judges on Sunday ordered the Interior Ministry to implement one of the court's previous rulings which mandated that a lesbian couple be recognized as the legal parents of one of the women's children.
The final decision is to be rendered in two weeks.
The legal debate was held before a nine-judge panel led by High Court President Dorit Beinish. The justices discussed the legality of the adoption after the Interior Ministry requested that the court consider changing a previous ruling it had made on the matter in 2000.
In the earlier verdict, the judges had decided to recognize Nicole and Ruthy Brener-Kadish as the legal mothers of the child of one of the two women. The child was legally adopted in the United States by the other partner in the couple.
The Interior Ministry is of the opinion that Nicole should not be recognized as the legal mother of the child despite the fact that she possesses an adoption certificate for the child which was issued by a federal court in San Francisco.
The justices have recommended that the Interior Ministry withdraw its request to have another hearing on the matter.
Judge Beinish expressed amazement that the Ministry requested another hearing on the matter after the High Court had already ruled that, according to Israeli law, legal partners in single-sex marriages may adopt children.
State prosecutors have given their word that, until a final decision is rendered on the issue, adopted children of same-sex unions entered into abroad will be recorded in the Interior Ministry.
The Ministry has another two weeks to decide whether or not to withdraw its appeal.
Judge Beinish is not a happy camper
Judge Beinish's expressed incredulity with the Interior Ministry's conduct in comments after the decision on Sunday: "This is inconceivable. You are making the law yourselves, there is a court ruling on the matter and you are not implementing it."
Dan Yakir, an attorney for the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, told Ynet after the discussion: "During the discussion, I emphasized the effects the delay of justice has had on the family. The situation is that there is a child who is recorded as having two mothers and his two younger brothers are noted as having only one mother," he said.
"Even at the judicial level, the court has already confirmed that the adoption by members of a same-sex union is lawful and therefore there is no basis for the Interior Ministry's claim that this is a legal arrangement that is not recognized in Israel," Yakir explained.
It should be noted that the High Court recognized adoptions in single-sex marriages as legal last year. Tal and Avital Yaros-Hakak, a lesbian couple, were granted adoption papers in which the State recognized them a the mothers of their three children.
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