Gay parents fight for US passport after losing legal battle

When Andrew and Elad Dvash-Banks showed up at the Toronto consulate, they thought getting American passports for their newborn fraternal twins would be relatively straightforward.

They wanted the boys, born via surrogate, to live closer to their relatives, including Andrew's parents and siblings.

Andrew, a dual American-Canadian citizen, had fathered one of the twins, Aiden, and Israel-born Elad had fathered the other, Ethan. But Ethan didn't have any biological connection to an American citizen, which meant he couldn't get a US passport.

Immigration Equality, the immigration-rights group, said Ethan was discriminated against because he and Andrew were not biologically related - but it didn't apply to heterosexual couples who'd adopted their kids or conceived them in a similar way.

The court made it three years for the court to rule in their favor, and the decision means that other LGBTQ parents won't be subject to the same treatment.

A psychologist who studies twins said it would be adverse for the brothers if they had to live apart.

We had to stand up for our beliefs and principles, he said.

Gay fathers, twin sons: The Citizenship Case That Captured the World is the subject of a new book, Gay Vaters, Twin Sons: The Citizenship Case that Captured the World. The book, written by psychologist Nancy Segal, the director and founder of the Twin Studies Center at California State University, Fullerton, describes the family's determination to gain equal rights for their sons.

In a interview with Insider, Segal said, the story tugs at the heartstrings. In the worst case, Andrew and Elad were forced to separate their sons - siblings born just four minutes apart. They'd bonded as twins, but would have grown up more like cousins than brothers, she said.

Andrew and Elad, who were married in Toronto in 2011 - four years before gay marriage was legalized in the US - discussed becoming parents soon after they met while studying at the University of Tel Aviv.

The surrogate had twins, and Andrew said they were happy when they found out they were pregnant. But it wasn't by design that each of them fathered one of the kids. Those two embryos were just the most healthy and viable, he said.

He said that only they, the surrogate, and their IVF specialist know which twin was which in terms of genetics. We didn't even tell my mother because she was my grandmother, he said.

But staff at the consulate told them they needed to prove that their twin was biologically theirs. It also said that only one of their sons - the blood relation to Andrew - would be granted a US passport.

I don't want to tell them who was genetically linked to Elad or me because it was none of their damn business, he said.

'Well, it's important to us, and if you withhold that information, both of them will be denied citizenship,' he said.

Elad argued that the same requirements would not be expected of a straight couple, and that the same requirements would not be expected of a straight couple. Would the same apply if I was an Israeli mom who was infertile, so we'd use a sperm donor? Andrew said he didn't have a plan for the future, and that he didn't want it to happen.

Ethan was first admitted to the US through a temporary visa as a tourist.

The immigration officer said he had the discretion to make the decision.

It was very emotional and humiliating, he said. He said both his names were on the birth certificate as the boys' parents, but they were forced to have DNA tests.

Both Andrew and Aidan were allowed to cross the border as U.S. citizens. Elad, now 38, was admitted to the United States because he had a green card from marriage. Ethan was able to visit the country on a temporary tourist visa.

We decided it would be better to fight from the US, he said.

However, Ethan remained in constant fear that Ethan might be deported. They were worried that he would be taken away by officers from ICE at any moment, she said.

In 2018, immigration equality filed a lawsuit against the US State Department. In 2019, a federal judge decided in the fathers' favor, but that ruling was overturned on appeal. The State Department said that a married US citizen required a biological connection to a child in order to pass on birthright citizenship.

Then, Ethan's legal status within the US became more secure, with lawyers getting a permanent extension of his entry visa. But he still didn't have the same citizenship rights as Aiden, Andrew said.

In February 2021, a California judge sided with the dads, and the government lost a second appeal. Ethan's passport was finally received in the mail. Three months later, the requirement for a biological connection to a parent for transnational citizenship was abolished.

We celebrated because we felt we'd won a victory for not only ourselves but also other LGBTQ people who are parents or want to become parents in the future, he said. The case drew worldwide attention, drawing worldwide attention to the couple.

The twins, now 6 years old, live happily with their dads in Los Angeles. The trail blazed a trail, he said.

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