Namibian court rules against gay couple in fight to take newborn daughters home
Published: 19/Apr/2021
Source: Reuters
Namibia’s High Court on Monday ruled against a gay couple battling to obtain travel documents for their twin daughters, born to a surrogate in South Africa, after authorities refused to do so on the basis the infants were not citizens.
Namibian Phillip Luhl and his Mexican husband Guillermo Delgado had already been fighting for citizenship for their two-year-old son when the twins, born in March, were refused the documents required to enter Namibia. Namibian authorities say Luhl must prove a genetic link to the children.
In an urgent application to the court, the fathers asked the judge to compel the home affairs ministry to issue the documents to bring their new daughters home.
Judge Thomas Masuku refused, however, saying such an order would be “judicial overreach”.
Namibia’s legal system does not recognise same-sex marriages and criminalises sexual contact between men, though the law is seldom, if ever, enforced.
Read further: https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/namibian-court-rules-against-gay-couple-fight-take-newborn-daughters-home-2021-04-19/