Maryland couple fights to keep family together

Fighting to keep a family together

A gay Maryland couple is headed back to court to take on the federal government again. It’s because the State Department is appealing a federal judge’s ruling that recognized the birthright citizenship of the couple’s daughter.

READ MORE: Same-sex couple sues U.S. State Department after daughter denied citizenship

“We are an American family and deserve, demand to be treated the same,” said Roee Kiviti.

The Kiviti family first spoke with FOX 5 in September of last year. Husbands Roee and Adiel are naturalized U.S. citizens, currently living in Bethesda, and they’ve got two kids – son Lev and daughter Kessem.

Kessem was born early last year in Canada via gestational surrogacy, using Adiel’s sperm and a donated egg. But here’s the issue: Even though Roee and Adiel are legally married U.S. citizens, and even though they are Kessem’s birth parents – because Kessem is only biologically related to one of her dads, the State Department considers her to be born out of wedlock, according to court documents. That makes Kessem subject to more stringent citizenship requirements, which long story short, she doesn’t meet.

“The process that we went through was degrading. It was insulting,” Roee said.

A federal judge agreed with the Kiviti’s, ruling in June that Kessem is a U.S. citizen by birth.

“It was a big relief for us, not because we didn’t thought that this is gonna be the outcome, but because we felt this is closure and an end to all of this distraction,” Adiel recalled.

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But earlier this month, the State Department appealed.

As of now, Kessem is a U.S. citizen. Attorneys representing the Kiviti family said that won’t change as long as the district court decision stands. Still though, the family’s fight against their own government goes on.

“I hope and I believe that eventually we will prevail,” Adiel said, “and I hope that she will never feel like her own country was trying to prevent her from being a citizen by birth like she is.”

FOX 5 reached out to the State Department for a response, but a spokesperson said they don’t comment on pending litigation.