GREEN BAY (NBC26) — Starting this Thursday, Wisconsin parents will have a new, gender-neutral option for identifying the parents of a child on birth certificates.
Beginning July 1, the birth forms used to generate birth certificates will be updated to include an option for "parent-parent," in addition to "mother-father." Pastor Bridget Flad Daniels, who works with LGBTQ families at Union Congregational United Church of Christ, says the change marks an enormous milestone.
“There is something so absolutely beautiful and powerful about seeing your whole family laid out on that piece of paper,” Flad Daniels said.
Given a long history of struggles with parental rights in the LGBTQ community, she says this change represents the notable progress Wisconsin has made.
"The fact that that we have now come to a place where state law will be that both parents can be on the birth certificate with the proper labeling of who they are… this is an incredible milestone,” Flad Daniels said.
One of the families who will be impacted by the change is Danielle and Sharon Pickering-Polzin of Appleton.
They welcomed their daughter Emilia in January but when they filled out their birth form, there was only one option for "mother-father."
“We asked the nurses well what do we do in this situation? And they said well just write your name wherever and just cross out father and put Sharon’s name in there," Danielle said. "We did that but it’s not official so when the official birth certificate comes back it still says mother and father on there.”
That meant that Sharon couldn’t be officially listed as a mother on her child’s birth certificate.
"As the non-birth parent there was so much of the pregnancy that I really couldn’t be a part of and so then when I couldn’t even be called mom on a birth certificate it just was so disheartening,” Sharon said.
But with the new gender-neutral option, Danielle and Sharon are now able to request new birth certificates so they can both be listed as parents. They say they couldn’t be more excited to make the change.
"It's very very exciting," Danielle said. "We are ready to have the right stuff on Emilia’s forms so that we are both her mothers and she knows that and the world knows that.”
