美国国家公共电台 NPR Same-Sex Couples Sue U.S. Government For Kids' Citizenship

 

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:

Two married same-sex couples are suing the U.S. State Department. Each couple has twins, and in each case, the government granted one twin citizenship¹ and denied the other. The couples say it is clear discrimination that would not have happened to married opposite-sex couples. The federal government says it's policy. NPR's Leila Fadel reports.

(SOUNDBITE OF VIDEO)

UNIDENTIFIED BOY: (Unintelligible).

LEILA FADEL, BYLINE²: That sound you're hearing is a family video from the Dvash-Banks house of their twin boys running around the dining room table. They're pretty wobbly because they're only 16 months old. They may be twins born four minutes apart from the same womb to the same dads, but there's one key difference. Aiden was granted U.S. citizenship, and his brother Ethan is living in California on an expired tourist visa.

Why? The State Department says only one is the child of an American. One of the kids has the genetic³ material of his U.S. citizen father, the other from his other father, an Israeli citizen with a green card. Both boys were born in Canada. Andrew Dvash-Banks describes walking up to the consular⁴ officer to turn in the paperwork for his newborns' passports.

ANDREW DVASH-BANKS: She started off with, obviously the two of you had to use assisted reproduction in order to have your family. Tell me more about that. Tell me about who is genetically⁵ related to who and just asking these very, very probing, invasive questions that I felt were completely irrelevant⁶.

FADEL: Andrew cried. His husband Elad got quiet. They didn't expect this. As the children of an American citizen, they should both inherit citizenship. But the couple used a surrogate abroad. Each child has genes⁷ from one of their fathers. And while Andrew and Elad never planned on telling anyone which child had Andrew's DNA⁸ and which child had Elad's, the State Department asked for DNA tests. Two months later, Andrew says, the letters came.

A. DVASH-BANKS: One addressed to Aiden with a U.S. passport saying, congratulations, here is your U.S. passport; you are an American citizen and one addressed to my son Ethan saying, we regret to inform you that your application for citizenship has been rejected.

FADEL: Despite both men being listed on the boys' birth certificates, Elad says the government made a distinction.

ELAD DVASH-BANKS: It was literally⁹ black and white on paper. Your kids are different.

FADEL: They had made their lives in Canada years earlier only because they couldn't get legally married in the United States until 2013. The State Department wouldn't comment for this story because of the pending¹⁰ litigation. But in the department's Foreign Affairs Manual, consular officers are instructed to ask for evidence if they suspect a child doesn't have a biological relationship with a U.S. citizen parent, specifically in cases of surrogacy or, quote, "other cases of assisted reproduction."

The discrimination is in the application because all same-sex couples will be flagged according to Immigration Equality, the LGBTQ immigrant rights organization that helped the couple file the lawsuit¹¹. They say more than two dozen other same-sex couples are dealing¹² with the same problem. Another couple, two married women, also filed suit. They have two children. One got citizenship, and the other was refused. Aaron Morris is the executive director of Immigration Equality.

AARON MORRIS: The law is pretty settled that if you're a United States citizen and you lived in the U.S. for a certain amount of time, then you move abroad and you fall in love and you get married, any children you have are born United States citizens.

FADEL: And Morris says there's precedent¹³ of a similar case for the citizenship of a son from an opposite-sex couple who are also binational.

MORRIS: The government has created a policy without issuing any justification¹⁴ for it. And it's really hard to imagine any kind of justification that would warrant stripping a child of citizenship.

FADEL: Morris says what the State Department is doing is illegal and discriminatory, and he hopes these lawsuits¹⁵ clarify the status of children born to couples like Andrew and Elad Dvash-Banks. Leila Fadel, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARTIFEX FEAT¹⁶. DJ ILLOGIC'S "REAP")

1 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

4 consular   

a.领事的

参考例句：

• He has rounded out twenty years in the consular service. 他在领事馆工作已整整20年了。
• Consular invoices are declarations made at the consulate of the importing country. 领事发票是进口国领事馆签发的一种申报书。

5 genetically   

adv.遗传上

参考例句：

• All the bees in the colony are genetically related. 同一群体的蜜蜂都有亲缘关系。
• Genetically modified foods have already arrived on American dinner tables. 经基因改造加工过的食物已端上了美国人的餐桌。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 基因与食物

6 irrelevant   

adj.不恰当的，无关系的，不相干的

参考例句：

• That is completely irrelevant to the subject under discussion.这跟讨论的主题完全不相关。
• A question about arithmetic is irrelevant in a music lesson.在音乐课上，一个数学的问题是风马牛不相及的。

7 genes   

n.基因( gene的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪

8 DNA   

(缩)deoxyribonucleic acid 脱氧核糖核酸

参考例句：

• DNA is stored in the nucleus of a cell.脱氧核糖核酸储存于细胞的细胞核里。
• Gene mutations are alterations in the DNA code.基因突变是指DNA密码的改变。

9 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

10 pending   

prep.直到，等待…期间；adj.待定的；迫近的

参考例句：

• The lawsuit is still pending in the state court.这案子仍在州法庭等待定夺。
• He knew my examination was pending.他知道我就要考试了。

11 lawsuit   

n.诉讼，控诉

参考例句：

• They threatened him with a lawsuit.他们以诉讼威逼他。
• He was perpetually involving himself in this long lawsuit.他使自己无休止地卷入这场长时间的诉讼。

12 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。

13 precedent   

n.先例，前例；惯例；adj.在前的，在先的

参考例句：

• Is there a precedent for what you want me to do?你要我做的事有前例可援吗？
• This is a wonderful achievement without precedent in Chinese history.这是中国历史上亘古未有的奇绩。

14 justification   

n.正当的理由；辩解的理由

参考例句：

• There's no justification for dividing the company into smaller units. 没有理由把公司划分成小单位。
• In the young there is a justification for this feeling. 在年轻人中有这种感觉是有理由的。

15 lawsuits   

n.诉讼( lawsuit的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Lawsuits involving property rights and farming and grazing rights increased markedly. 涉及财产权，耕作与放牧权的诉讼案件显著地增加。 来自辞典例句
• I've lost and won more lawsuits than any man in England. 全英国的人算我官司打得最多，赢的也多，输的也多。 来自辞典例句

16 feat   

n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的

参考例句：

• Man's first landing on the moon was a feat of great daring.人类首次登月是一个勇敢的壮举。
• He received a medal for his heroic feat.他因其英雄业绩而获得一枚勋章。