It was a memorable day for the family, her parents recalled. It was also a respite from the looming reality that Simone, who was born abroad with the help of a surrogate, would soon be at risk of being removed from the country that is her home.
“I try not to think about ICE coming to our door and deporting our baby,” Mize said in an interview last week. “That is a pretty hard thing to think about.”
On Tuesday, the couple filed a discrimination lawsuit against Secretary of State Mike Pompeo over the department’s decision to deny citizenship to Simone, even though both Mize and Gregg are American.
The case centers on a State Department policy that affects children born abroad through assisted reproductive technology. The policy focuses on showing biological parentage to transmit citizenship. It has come under intense scrutiny for its effect on same-sex couples, who cannot conceive on their own and are often surprised that their children do not qualify for citizenship at birth.
At least two other same-sex couples are suing the State Department for similar reasons. Last month, nearly 100 Democratic members of Congress called on Pompeo to reverse the policy, which they called “cruel” and “deeply disturbing.”
Simone was born in Britain last year, using a donor egg and the sperm of her British-born father.
But when the family returned home and applied for Simone’s American passport, they were denied.
The State Department’s focus on biological parentage means that if the source of the sperm and egg do not match married parents, the case can be treated as “out of wedlock,” a designation that comes with a higher bar to transmit citizenship.
Karen Loewy, a lawyer with Lambda Legal, said that the State Department is “reading a biology requirement into the words of the statute that don’t exist.”
“What the State Department is doing is applying a provision of the law that only comes into play if you are considering them a nonmarital couple,” said Loewy.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.