Court: Son born abroad to gay couple is a U.S. citizen

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A federal appeals court has ruled against the U.S. State Department in its quest to deny the citizenship of one of two twins born abroad to a gay married couple.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Friday that a Los Angeles trial judge correctly concluded that 4-year-old Ethan Dvash-Banks was an American citizen despite being
conceived with sperm of an Israeli father and born in Canada using a surrogate mother.

The boy's other father is a U.S. citizen, and the law does not require a child to show a biological relationship if their parents were married at the time of their birth, a U.S. District Court judge ruled last year. The boy was granted a passport after the ruling, but the State Department appealed.

A three-judge panel ruled unanimously that it was bound by precedent from previous decisions and issued a short memorandum without hearing arguments.

Andrew Dvash-Banks, the father who is a U.S. citizen, said he was thrilled by the ruling that affirms his son's citizenship and removes uncertainty that has hung over the family for nearly four years