Miami judge rules three parents can share birth certificate

One little Miami girl is allowed to grow up with three legal parents, a judge ruled Wednesday.

The Miami Herald, a partner of CBS' WFOR-TV, reports that a married lesbian couple and a gay man who donated sperm now share the birth certificate of their 23-month-old daughter.

"We're creating entirely new concepts of families, If you have two women seeking to be listed as Parent One and Parent Two, that does not exclude listing a man as father," said lawyer Karyn J. Begin, who represented dad Massimiliano "Massimo" Gerina in the two-year paternity case.

The women, Maria Italiano and Cher Filippazzo, married in Connecticut but unsuccessfully attempted to become pregnant through fertility clinics. They approached Gerina about fathering a child, and he donated sperm.

Things got complicated when seven months into the pregnancy. Gerina said he considered himself more than a donor and thought he would help raise the girl as a father, but the women asked him to sign a contract.

"When they gave me the paper to sign that I had to give up all my rights to the baby, I didn't," he said.

Begin said that now that the state recognizes Gerina as the baby's father, he is allowed to visit her twice a week. Overnight visits will be discussed after she turns four.

"All the parties involved in this could have funded this little girl's college tuition, and paid their attorneys instead," Begin said. 'One-tenth of that would have been what it cost to handle this properly.

The baby, Emma, was born March 10, 2011. WFOR-TV reports that Italiano, Filippazzo and their attorney declined to be interviewed.

[MCR5]

It's really going to suck to be that kid. No father and three mothers.