Georgia dads sue State Department over refusal to recognize daughter’s citizenship

A gay couple in Georgia has filed a lawsuit in federal court against the U.S. State Department for refusing to recognize their daughter’s American citizenship, arguing that the departments policy discriminates against same-sex couples by refusing to recognize their legal marriages, and thus, stripping their children of their rightful citizenship.

Derek Mize and Jonathan Gregg, who married in New York in 2015, conceived their daughter Simone Mize-Gregg via surrogacy using an anonymous egg donor and the help a close female friend who lived in England who carried the pregnancy to term. Simone was born in July 2018, and the couple then returned to their home in Decatur, Ga., in September 2018. Both men are listed as Simone’s fathers on her birth certificate.

While Mize is an American citizen born and raised in Mississippi, Gregg, the biological father was born in London to a U.S. citizen mother and a British father and raised in London with dual citizenship. Further complicating the situation is that Gregg had not lived in the United State for more than five years prior to Simone’s birth. As a result, the couple had their application rejected.