DURBAN - SAME-sex couple Phillip Lühl and Guillermo Delgado are locked in a legal battle with the Namibian government in a bid to get their twin girls out of South Africa and back home.
Lühl is currently stuck in South Africa after the birth of the couple's twin daughters, via surrogacy, in Durban in March.
Despite obtaining birth certificates for the girls, Paula and Maya, Lühl is unable to take them back to Namibia due to the country's same-sex union laws. Namibia's Ministry of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety and Security is refusing to issue travel documents allowing the twins entry into the country.
Meanwhile, Delgado is in Namibia with the couple's 2-year-old son, Yona, also born via surrogacy.
Lühl and Delgado were married in South Africa in 2014.
Lühl has since filed an urgent application with the Windhoek High Court urging the minister to issue emergency travel documents for the twins. The ministry is reportedly opposing the application and demanding genetic proof that Lühl is the twins' biological father.
According to reports, Lühl and Delgado said their surrogacy agreement has been approved by the Cape Town High Court, ruling that that the children are legally theirs.
In a post on social media ahead of Namibia's Independence Day celebrations, Lühl said this highlighted the plight of the LGBTQ community.
"For many members of the LGBTQ community, the words freedom and equality, after 30 years, still ring quite hollow. We have a minister of Home Affairs who is essentially closing the door of the Namibian house to two baby girls that are not even a week old," he said.
A petition has since been started and peaceful protests held in a bid to have the family reunited.
The Namibian High Court is expected to announce its decision on April 19.
Related Video:
IOL