"The best Christmas present that I could give these families"

Friday 22 December 2023

Jersey could be the first of the Channel Islands to ensure the rights of same-sex parents in law, if draft legislation is approved in February.

Following nearly two years of development, the Assistant Children’s and Education Minister Louise Doublet yesterday lodged a draft law to secure the rights of all children and young people to have a legally recognised family structure.

The legislation – which the Government has been working on since April 2021 – makes changes to the Children (Jersey) Law 2002 and Marriage and Civil Status (Jersey) Law 2001.

Deputy Doublet explained it had taken so long because of the complex nature of the legislation, saying: "The concept of mother and father and parent-child relationships are so deeply embedded in our legislation that this law has touched on and interacted with so many pieces of legislation, more than any other law that I have reviewed or worked on. I've also been told by senior Law Officers that this is one of the biggest pieces of legislation they had ever worked on."

Pictured: Deputy Doublet explained the delay for completing the legislation.

She added: "That the Government has committed to seeing this through shows how much we value the LGBTQ+ community."

If approved by the States Assembly following scheduled debate on 6 February, the new law will:

• 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 parental responsibility to be passed to a step-parent.

The change is in line with Jersey's commitment to upholding the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

The new law would retroactively apply to same-sex couples in Jersey – and to couples with a Jersey-born child who sought a parental order in England or Wales.
A short video explaining the law to children and young people will be shared via schools, colleges and youth clubs before the debate in February.

Deputy Doublet, who first raised the issue in the States Assembly in 2016, continued: "If this law is approved by the States Assembly, it will mean that Jersey is the first Channel Island to enshrine the rights of same-sex parents in law. It would mean that all families are given the legal recognition they deserve.

"I would like to thank the officers who have worked on this complex legislative project, and to the LGBTQ+ members of our community to sticking with us. This is the best Christmas present that I could receive and the best that I could give to families."

Deputy Doublet brought forward a proposition to prioritise ending discrimination against same-sex couples last year, saying that many had racked up thousands of pounds in legal bills to secure full rights, as same-sex parents were not automatically given legal-parent status.

Under Jersey law, only one female mother and one male father can be registered as a child's parents, and the person who gives birth to the child is automatically named as a parent on the birth certificate regardless of how the child was conceived.