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

(JTA) — The son of a Jewish same-sex couple should be granted U.S. citizenship, a federal appeals court ruled.

The ruling on Friday by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upholds an earlier district court decision recognizing the citizenship from birth of Ethan Dvash-Banks, who was born by surrogacy in Canada to Andrew and Elad Dvash-Banks, a married gay couple. Ethan’s twin brother, Aiden, was granted citizenship from birth.

Andrew Dvash-Banks, an American, and Elad Dvash-Banks, an Israeli, married in Canada in 2010. Their sons were conceived with donor eggs and the sperm from both fathers, and were born from the same surrogate mother minutes apart in September 2016. Both fathers are listed as the parents on the birth certificates.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

Shortly after the births, the fathers applied for American citizenship for their sons. The officer asked for “highly personal details” about the conception of the twins, leading the men to leave the consulate “shocked, humiliated, and hurt,” according to a lawsuit filed in 2018. The men were forced to undergo DNA tests that proved Elad is the father of Ethan and Andrew is the father of Aiden. The State Department then denied Ethan citizenship and treated both children as if they were born out of wedlock.

In February 2019, a federal district judge ruled that the State Department was wrong to deny citizenship to Ethan because U.S. law does not require a child to show a biological relationship with their parents if the parents were married at the time of birth. Ethan was then issued a U.S. passport, but the State Department appealed the decision.

“No longer will these parents have to worry that their twin sons will be treated as if they were born out of wedlock simply because they have two fathers,” Aaron C. Morris, executive director of Immigration Equality and co-counsel for the family, said in a statement.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount