Lesbian couples still waiting for their legal parental rights to be upheld

Same-sex female couples are still waiting for new laws on their parental rights to come into effect.

New changes to previous laws mean that lesbian couples can now both register as the parents of their child. Unfortunately, it seems that the new law still does not cover all lesbian couples. The new bill was signed by the cabinet this week but same-sex couples who received IVF treatment abroad feel they have been left out in the cold. LGBT+ activists recently made a demonstration outside of Leinster House to show their outrage that the rights of certain gay families are still not being addressed.

Serious issues will still stand for families led by #gayfathers and #samesexcouples who received IVF treatment abroad. https://t.co/DuFBN8qnWK

— Gay Community News (@GCNmag) February 14, 2019

Families who had their fertility treatments abroad are not the only ones affected as families led by gay fathers are also finding their rights still very much in a grey area. According to GCN, LGBT+ rights campaigner Paula Fagan said;

“This is a children’s rights issue. Children in LGBT families don’t have the right or the legal recognition of their primary caregivers, which has serious implications for them. That can be incomprehensible to children because they know who loves them, who takes care of them and who their parents are, so the law needs to catch up with that.”

Families affected by previous laws waited over four years for changes to be made but still after all of their campaignings many are still waiting to be included.