When Namibian Phillip L\u00fchl and his Mexican husband Guillermo Delgado decided to start a family, they did not realise how difficult it would be.<\/p>\n
The same-sex couple are battling to obtain Namibian citizenship for their 2-year-old son, while their one-month-old twin daughters are stuck in South Africa because Namibian authorities want L\u00fchl to show genetic proof he is the father before providing them with travel documents.<\/p>\n
L\u00fchl said that while the couple – married in South Africa – never experienced any discrimination in Namibia, their predicament began after their son was born in 2019 via a surrogate in South Africa.<\/p>\n
“That was really the moment where things started to get complicated,” L\u00fchl told Reuters. “We applied for citizenship but were told he can only get citizenship if we can prove a genetic link to myself as a Namibian father.”<\/p>\n
“We rejected the notion that a genetic link or DNA test will prove my parentage,” he said, adding there was no basis in Namibian law nor in the constitution that parentage is defined by genetic link.<\/p>\n