State Department ends anti-LGBTQ policy that targeted same-sex parents

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18 May 2021

Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken tours the Quantum Materials Lab at the University of Copenhagen, in Copenhagen, Denmark on May 17, 2021.

The U.S. State Dept. under Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday ended a Trump-era policy targeted directly against LGBTQ families. The policy, supported by then-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, mandated that children born outside the United States to parents who are U.S. citizens must be biologically related to both parents, or they would not be allowed to be granted U.S. citizenship.

The discriminatory policy ensnared only same-sex couples, and hewed to Pompeo and Trump's anti-LGBTQ and anti-immigrant beliefs.

In a statement U.S. Department of State Spokesperson Ned Price said the "updated interpretation and application of the INA [Immigration and Nationality Act] takes into account the realities of modern families and advances in ART [assisted reproductive technology] from when the Act was enacted in 1952."

In one case NCRM reported on in 2019, the Pompeo State Dept. actually allowed one of two biological twins to be granted U.S. citizenship but prohibited the other from the exact same rights.

The non-profit group Immigration Equality in a statement Tuesday said the Trump-era policy had affected "many married same-sex couples," and noted that "the Immigration and Nationality Act has never required a biological relationship for married parents. As such, every federal court that heard the issue found that the State Department's policy was inconsistent with the statute."

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