Old Fashioned Forms Cause Misery

An Exeter couple have spoken to the BBC News Channel about their experiences of having a baby as samesex parents, and the fact that many forms still being used by health providers are obsolete, and heteronormative, in that they make no provision for recording two mothers or two fathers. Kate and Gemma Fox have recently had their first child, but reported that they felt doubly exhausted having to bring to the attention of various health authorities the problems in old documentation that had not been updated to reflect modern society. Local GP surgeries, Devon County Council and even the Baby Book issued to newborns, offered just heterosexual options of “mother” and “father” on their websites or on their hard copy forms. However, the good news is that when the obsolesences of these forms were brought to their attention, the agencies involved apologised and promised that they would be updated in due course