Ranae Von Meding has launched a petition calling on the Minister for Health Simon Harris to legislate for the equal rights of all same-sex parents in Ireland – not just a select few.

The petition has been signed by over 2,000 people in less than 24 hours and refers to the incomplete proposed changes to the Children and Families Relationship Act which only covered a small number of same-sex parents.

On uplift.ie, Ranae writes about herself and wife Audrey’s situation:

“My wife Audrey and I have two beautiful daughters. Ava is 2 and her sister Arya is 3 months old. We did Reciprocal IVF which means we used Audrey’s eggs to conceive and I carried the babies. It’s also known as ‘Shared Motherhood’. Audrey is their biological parent and I am their birth parent.

“As it currently stands, under the Irish law, because I gave birth to the girls, I am seen as their parent and Audrey is seen as a legal stranger. I am married and yet I am viewed as a single parent. We equally brought our children into the world together. We equally are raising them as a family. And yet we are not viewed as a family. If anything happened to me, it’s unclear if Audrey would be ‘next in line’ so to speak.”

For Mothers Day this year, Ranae made a video saying, “All we want is for both of us to be recognised as what we are. Mothers to our daughters.”

Campaigners have long stressed their problems with the proposed changes to the Children and Families Relationship Act. As it stands currently, the bill provides no legal recognition to LGBT+ families, but even though some improvements may be forthcoming, serious issues will still stand for families led by gay fathers and same-sex couples who received IVF treatment abroad.

You can sign the petition here.