Gay Couple’s Son Not Granted Citizenship – But His Twin Brother Was

Elad and Andrew Dvash-Banks with their twin sons, Ethan and Aiden. Image by facebook

By Ari Feldman January 26, 2018

Ethan Dvash-Banks is just 16 months old, but he’s already suing the U.S. State Department, the Chicago Tribune reported. He was denied U.S. citizenship — even when his twin brother Aiden was granted it.

Ethan’s biological father, Elad, is Israeli, and his twin brother’s biological father, Andrew, is American. The two were both born as twins to a surrogate mother with donor eggs. The Dvash-Banks and advocates say the couple was discriminated against because they are a same sex couple.

“If a mother and father walk into a consulate and have a marriage certificate and birth certificate, they’re never asked any questions about the biology of the child,” said Aaron Morris, executive director of Immigration Equality. “But the converse is also true and every same-sex couple will be asked that.”

When Elad and Andrew Dvash-Banks applied for citizenship for their infant sons, the State Department representative interviewing them asked for DNA evidence that Ethan and Aiden were twins.

“I started crying,” Andrew Dvash-Banks said. “These are twins, how can you differentiate between them? They were born minutes apart.”

After the DNA samples were submitted, only Aiden — whose biological father is a U.S. citizen — received a passport. The whole family is currently living in Los Angeles. Ethan’s passport visa expired last month.

Contact Ari Feldman at [email protected] or on Twitter @aefeldman

Ari Feldman is a staff writer at the Forward. He covers Jewish religious organizations, synagogue life, anti-Semitism and the Orthodox world. If you have any tips, you can email him at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @aefeldman.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO