Gay Dads, Twin Sons, and a Unique Citizenship Case

A January 2018 headline story in the Los Angeles Times detailed the struggles of a gay couple to assure citizenship for their twin sons, in a case with far reaching implications. Andrew Dvash-Banks from the United States and Elad Dvash-Banks from Israel married in Canada in 2010, when homosexual couples could not marry in their home countries. The couple conceived fraternal twin sons, Aiden and Ethan, with a Canadian surrogate by means of an egg donor and sperm from each father. The two boys were born minutes apart on September 16, 2016. Aiden was created with Andrew’s sperm and Ethan was created with Elad’s sperm.

Andrew and Elad wished to raise their children in the United States, but as they prepared to leave Canada, they were stopped by the U.S. State Department, acting through Toronto’s U.S. Embassy. When they brought their “cranky infants” to the American Consulate to apply for citizenship, they were stunned by the series of shocking and humiliating questions they were forced to answer. An officer informed the couple of her authority to require a DNA test to determine each parents’ relatedness to each twin--warning that without these tests neither twin would be granted U.S. citizenship. Their marriage was not contested, but conventional heterosexual couples would not have been subjected to such inquiry. Andrew and Elad knew which twin each had fathered and had planned on keeping this information strictly confidential.

Having no alternative, Andrew and Elad provided saliva samples for DNA testing and submitted the results to the consulate. Soon, two envelopes bearing dreaded news arrived at their home on the same day—decisions that threatened to cruelly separate this loving family. United States citizenship was given to Aiden whose father was a U.S. citizen, but not to Ethan whose father had been born in Israel. According to a January 2018 court document filed by the Dvash-Banks’ attorneys:

“Andrew and Elad are the only parents Ethan and Aiden have, and the only people Canadian law recognizes as Ethan and Aiden’s parents. Accordingly, Andrew and Elad have been the twins’ legal parents from the day they came into this world together.”

This cutting-edge case was litigated by lawyers at Immigration Equality in New York and at the Cromwell & Sullivan law firm in Los Angeles, who worked hard on behalf of the family and other families like it. The lawsuit was filed against the United States State Department and Secretary of State (first Rex Tillerson, then Mike Pompeo). The attorneys argued that children born to a U.S. citizen who marries outside the country are entitled to U.S. citizenship. This argument would apply regardless of whether the other parent was a citizen, and regardless of where the children were born. After an emotionally exhausting series of lawsuits and appeals that began in 2018, the case finally settled in May 2021 in favor of the family. After their tortured journey, the four of them could finally enjoy the life they had envisioned.

I was captivated by this case when I first learned about it in the Los Angeles Times. Biologically speaking, the procedure that led to the twins' conception replays the key features of what scientists call superfecundated twinning—twins that are conceived naturally when a woman releases two eggs at the same time and has different sexual partners within the 12- to 48-hour fertilization window. Sperm lingering in the fallopian tube can last from 7 to 10 days. But unlike fraternal twins who share an average of 50% of their genes, superfecundated twins share an average of 25% because they have just one common parent (the maternal contribution). These pairs have the same genetic relationship as half-siblings, but they are recognized as genuine twins by medical professionals.

Further, the family's case combined the timely themes of gay marriage and equality in the eyes of the law, egg donation, surrogacy, twinship and family. Moreover, the idea that twin brothers would be cruelly separated was unconscionable. I wanted to write about the fathers’ life stories and the legal events they had to deal with—but at the time I was prevented from speaking with them because the case was pending. Once the case settled, I was able to interview the two fathers and their family members and to reveal their story in full detail.

The result is a book, Gay Fathers, Twin Sons: The Citizenship Case That Captured the World. The subtitle is not an exaggeration—people all over the world were familiar with what happened. And, fortunately, the outcome has eased concerns for transnational couples facing similar circumstances regarding the citizenship of their children. The two men—Andrew and Elad—sacrificed their privacy for the well-being of others.