A judge in the US state of Florida has approved an adoption allowing three people — a gay man and a lesbian 
couple in a same-sex marriage— to be listed on the birth certificate of their 23-month-old daughter.
Local Judge Antonio Marin approved a private settlement between the three individuals and the court adoption clerk submitted paperwork for the child’s new birth certificate.
“We’re creating entirely new concepts of families. If you have two women seeking to be listed as Parent One and Parent Two, that does not exclude listing a man as father,” said Miami family lawyer Karyn J. Begin, who represented dad Massimiliano “Massimo” Gerina in a two-year paternity case involving lesbian friends who had his baby.
The lesbian couple, Maria Italiano and Cher Filippazzo, did not give media interviews, but the gay man spoke of his desire to be a dad. He donated his sperm to the couple.
Mr Gerina said: “I want to be a father. I guess it is nature. A woman wants to be a mother and a man wants to be a father one day”, he said.
He also commented: “The mothers are in charge. I’m just going to spend time with her. They are the parents”.
And Mr Gerina remarked: “It is a kind of a modern family, but I’m very old style. I believe that kids should have both a male figure and a female figure”.
Maria Italiano and Cher Filippazzo, who married in Connecticut, asked that their lawyer, Kenneth Kaplan, speak on their behalf.
“There are three parties involved. I agree that makes the case unique,” Mr Kaplan said.
“People have to understand, the case is really a second-parent adoption, meaning that there are not three equal parents. There are three involved but there are two people who have sole parental responsibility,” Mr Kaplan said. “Under Florida law, they make all the decisions for the child. This is an adoption by two women, with him receiving certain rights.”
Mr Kaplan said the mothers always intended for the child to know her father.
“As the child gets older, the child will want to know who her father is,” Mr Kaplan said. “They want to be an honest family and they’re not going to keep secrets from the child. He loves the child. That’s a beautiful thing. The more people who can love your child, the better it is.”