The State Department recently announced that they will modify applications for passports and birth records for children of U.S. citizens born overseas to reflect that both parents may be of the same sex. The forms, which formerly asked only for information on a child’s “mother” and “father,” will now request “mother or parent 1” and “father or parent 2”.
“These improvements are being made to provide a gender neutral description of a child’s parents and in recognition of different types of families,” the department said in a December statement. Jennifer Chrisler, the executive director of Family Equality Council, which led the effort to change the forms, applauded the new forms.“The updates remove significant challenges for the two million children being parented by lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender (LGBT) parents,” Chrisler said in a statement on Wednesday. “The new forms prevent denial or delays for accessing fundamental aspects of American citizenship, and send a positive message of inclusion in American life for children with same-sex parents. We are grateful to both Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama for prioritizing this change.” [source]