EU court slaps at Bulgaria for letting child with two moms go stateless

LUXEMBOURG (CN) — Bulgaria's stance against gay marriage does not justify its denial of a birth certificate to a baby of Bulgarian descent, born in Spain to lesbian parents, the European Court of Justice ruled Tuesday.

Marking a win for so-called rainbow families, the bloc's top court said member states are obligated to issue proper identity documents to ensure the right to live and work freely across the European Union.

The Balkan country refused in 2019 to issue a birth certificate for Sara, who was born in Spain, but who has one parent hailing from Bulgaria and the other from the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. Bulgaria defines marriage as between one man and one woman and wouldn’t recognize Sara’s Spanish birth certificate, which lists her parents as two women — they are referred to by pseudonyms Kalina and Jane in the court records. 

Spain doesn’t permit birthright citizenship, and the United Kingdom — and by extension Gibraltar — doesn’t allow parents to pass on citizenship to children born outside of British territory. This left the little girl, who just turned 2, stateless. Without travel documents, she’s cannot leave Spain.

The parents sued the Bulgarian authorities, and the Administrative Court of the City of Sofia referred the matter to the Luxembourg-based Court of Justice, asking if the country could be forced to acknowledge the same-sex parents. Bulgaria demanded the couple list only the girl’s biological mother on the birth certificate and leave the other mother off. The couple refused, arguing they weren’t required to disclose this information. 

Although marriage and citizenship requirements are decided by the bloc’s 27-member states, the court found that EU citizens are entitled to identity documents that allow them to move freely within the European Union. Sara has “the right to be registered immediately after birth, the right to a name and the right to acquire a nationality, without discrimination against the child in that regard, including discrimination on the basis of the sexual orientation of the child’s parents,” the 13-judge panel wrote. 

"The decision of the court is fully in accordance with the principles on which the European Union has been built, and also with so far the practice of the Court, namely that all European citizens should be treated equally. Bulgaria is obliged to recognize Sarah's legal relationship with her two mothers,” the couple’s lawyer, Denitsa Lubenova, said in a statement that uses an alternate spelling of the child's name. 

The decision echoed the legal reasoning of an April opinion by the court’s advocate general. Juliane Kokott wrote that Bulgaria’s refusal to issue the documents creates “serious obstacles to a family life.” The court has sided with LGBTQ complainants several times in recent years. In 2013, it ruled in a German case that same-sex partners were entitled to the same employment benefits as married couples. In 2018, the court found that the word “spouse” in legislation should be applied to both same and opposite-sex partners. 

Human rights groups are celebrating the decision, which comes as some countries in Europe have backslid away from equal treatment for minorities. “We welcome the judgment of European Court that a child and its same-sex parents must be recognized as a family, the child should be issued a Bulgarian passport, and the family should have free movement in all Member States of the European Union,” the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association said in a statement. 

In July, the European Union filed a complaint with the court against Hungary and Poland, arguing that recent anti-LGBTQ legislation violated EU regulations. That case is still pending. 

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