NEW ORLEANS — A federal appeals court will consider whether Louisiana must put both fathers’ names on the birth certificate of a child adopted by a gay couple.
A full panel of 16 judges on the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was set to hear arguments Wednesday in the case of parents Oren Adar and Mickey Ray Smith of San Diego.
Their son was born to a Shreveport woman in late 2005. He was adopted by them in April 2006 in New York state.
Adopted children get birth certificates bearing their new parents’ names. Louisiana contends that because state law lets only married couples or single individuals adopt, only one man’s name may go the boy’s birth certificate.
A district judge and a three-judge appeal panel have already ruled that Louisiana was wrong.
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