Sunday, January 16, 2011

US passports to delete the words "mother" and "father"

US passports will no longer contain the words “mother” and “father,” the State Department has said.  They are to be replaced with gender-neutral terminology.

“The words in the old form were ‘mother’ and ‘father,’” said Brenda Sprague, deputy assistant Secretary of State for Passport Services. 

"They are now ‘parent one’ and ‘parent two.’"

Pro-family groups have expressed dismay about the decision.  

“Only in the topsy-turvy world of left-wing political correctness could it be considered an ‘improvement’ for a birth-related document to provide less information about the circumstances of that birth,” Family Research Council president Tony Perkins.

“This is clearly designed to advance the causes of same-sex ‘marriage’ and homosexual parenting without statutory authority, and violates the spirit if not the letter of the Defense of Marriage Act.”

A statement on the State Department website noted: “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 statement didn't note if it was for child applications only.

The State Department said the new passport applications, not yet available to the public, would be available online soon.

Sprague said the decision to remove the traditional parenting names was not an act of political correctness.  

“We find that with changes in medical science and reproductive technology that we are confronting situations now that we would not have anticipated 10 or 15 years ago,” she said.

Homosexual rights groups welcomed the move, describing the words “father” and “mother” on the old form as “discriminatory.”

“Changing the term mother and father to the more global term of parent allows many different types of families to be able to go and apply for a passport for their child without feeling like the government doesn’t recognise their family,” said Jennifer Chrisler, executive director of Family Equality Council.

Sprague said she would not use the word ‘discriminatory’ to describe the old passport form.  “I would prefer to use the word imprecise,” she said.  

“It just didn’t capture the reality of their situation.  Clearly, we want to be sensitive to the feelings of other people, but we are also very conscious of our need to introduce the greatest degree of precision to the process.”

The new gender-neutral passport application will be rolled out in February.

SIC: CIN/IE