RALEIGH, N.C. — Beginning on March 1, North Carolina made a change to how it handles parents names on death certificates.
North Carolina Vital Records, now requires funeral directors to fill out a new form, that replaces that replaces the boxes designated for the father’sand mother’s names for the deceased person to “Father/Parent Name” and “Mother/Parent Name.”
While the options are still partially gendered, the more neutral option was done to accommodate the LGBTQ community, said Kelly Haight, press assistant for the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, the agency that oversees the N.C. Vital Records.
Effective March 1st, 2018 the State of North Carolina Vital Records will no longer accept these death certificates (see images). Questions? Call (919) 245-2404. pic.twitter.com/yHJAkZ0nxr
— Orange County Health (@OrangeHealthNC) February 26, 2018
Texas changed its policies regarding death certificates after a man was denied the opportunity to amend the death certificate of his deceased husband. The state changed its birth and death certificate policies only under legal pressure, after the man sued.
Last year, a federal judge in Florida ruled that residents there don’t have to go through the courts first to update the death certificates of their partners who died before the Supreme Court legalized marriage equality.
Also last year, the Supreme Court ruled states had to list same-sex parents on birth certificates. Trump appointee Neil Gorsuch dissented.
