The Jersey government lodged new legislation on Thursday to allow both same-sex parents to be registered as parents on a birth certificate in Jersey, guaranteeing equal rights for them.

The proposed law, which was confirmed to be submitted by the end of the year in September by Deputy and Assistant Minister for Children Louise Doublet, would modify the Marriage and Civil Status (Jersey) Law 2001 and the Children (Jersey) Law 2002 in order to give equal rights to families in Jersey. Under current law, only one female mother and one male father can be registered as parents.

The objectives established by the legislation would:

Allow both same-sex parents to be named on a Jersey birth certificate
automatically provide parental responsibility to both same-sex parents;

Provide opposite-sex civil partners with legal parent status and parental responsibility in the same way as a married couple;

Afford legal parent status and parental responsibility to parents whose child is born to a surrogate mother;

Allow for the acquisition of parental responsibility by a step-parent by agreement.

Doublet, who has been advocating for the rights of same-sex parents for years to be enshrined in law, expressed her delight in a post on Facebook regarding the development. She said, “I am delighted that I have been able to lodge this Law after a very long journey to get to this point.” She further announced that the proposed law would be debated in February 2024.