BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Baby Antonio is 14 months old, growing fast, likes to grab things and is otherwise a typical Argentine toddler, with one exception: he is the first in that country to legally have two mommies and a daddy.
Antonio was born in March 2014 to lesbian couple Susana Guichal and Valeria Gaete, conceived with the help of a sperm donor, their long-time friend Hernan Melazzi.
Guichal and Gaete consider Melazzi to be part of the family, too, and asked officials to issue them a birth certificate with three parents’ names.
In a sign of Argentina’s progressive approach toward gay rights — it was the first Latin American country to allow same-sex marriages, in July 2010, and also allows gay couples to adopt — the Buenos Aires government granted their request with a simple administrative decision, saving them the headaches of waging a drawn-out court battle.
After getting the green light from the province, the trio went to the civil registry last month and got a birth certificate for Antonio with all their names on it.
“We’re very proud,” said Esteban Paulon, who heads the Argentine Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Trans (FALGBT), which advised the family throughout the process.
“We didn’t even have to go to court …. This situation looks like science fiction in many countries that are only just now beginning to debate equal marriage rights.”
Guichal and Gaete, both 39, have been friends with Melazzi, 37, since before they got married in 2012.
“This is an important moment for all three of us, and for Antonio,” Melazzi said.
“We’ve wanted to have this kind of family for a long time, one with a father who is present,” Gaete said.
Argentina’s neighbor Brazil granted a similar birth certificate last year, when a judge allowed a family to register their baby with two mothers, a father and six grandparents.
Officials have also allowed three-parent birth certificates in Canada and the United States.
