JERUSALEM – December 6, 2007 – The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) will argue for an expanded panel of nine High Court Justices this Sunday to order the Interior Ministry to continue executing a 2000 ruling endorsing the registration of a lesbian couple as dual mothers of a child. The further hearing will take place at 9 a.m. at the Supreme Court, one day before International Human Rights Day.
ACRI petitioned the Court in 1999, on behalf of Nicole and Ruti Berner-Kadish, to demand that the state recognize Nicole’‘s adoption of Ruti’‘s biological son, Matan. Upon Matan’‘s birth in California, Nicole adopted Matan, and under California law the official adoption papers listed both Nicole and Ruti as the boy’‘s legal mothers.
A panel of three High Court Justices accepted the petition in 2000 and ordered the Ministry to register Nicole as Matan’‘s mother. Subsequently, the Interior Ministry submitted a petition against the ruling and requested a further hearing before an expanded panel of the High Court. The Ministry claimed that it cannot force Population Registry clerks to register an adoption representing values and norms not enshrined in Israeli law.
The Court dismissed the Interior Ministry’‘s request not to implement the decision, and the Ministry was forced to register Nicole as Matan’‘s mother. In the meantime, the Interior Ministry’‘s rejection of the ruling has prevented numerous gay and lesbian couples from registering adoptions in Israel, leaving one parent without any legal connection to the children of his or her partner. Ruti and Nicole have since mothered two more children, and they have not yet been registered as children of both women.
“The right to family is a basic right, for all individuals, regardless of sexual orientation,” said Attorney Dan Yakir, ACRI’‘s Chief Legal Counsel, who will represent Nicole, Ruti, and Matan before the Court at the hearing on Sunday. “In this case, the Court has rightly decided to order the registration of the adoption and to ensure that Matan has two lawful mothers. The Interior Ministry’‘s petition is an attempt to overthrow a fair and necessary ruling, and we hope the Court will adhere to its original decision.”
Since the Berner-Kadish family’‘s original petition, the Supreme Court ruled in 2005 on the right of a lesbian woman to adopt her partner’‘s biological child under Israeli adoption law. In light of that decision, ACRI asked the Court to dismiss the Ministry’‘s petition because it became irrelevant.
ACRI argues that the laws governing adoption in Israel are analogous to those governing marriage in that the government registers married couples according to foreign marriage certificates, and thus it also must register adoption certificates and the factual information pertaining to the adoption.
In 2006, ACRI brought about a precedent-setting ruling stating that the Population Registry must register same-sex marriages conducted abroad.
