Sixteen-month-old Ethan Dvash-Banks, left, and his twin brother, Aiden, play in the living room of their apartment Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2018, in Los Angeles. The toddler twins share almost everything: the... (Associated Press) 
 
 Sixteen-month-old Ethan Dvash-Banks, left, and his twin brother, Aiden, play in the living room of their apartment Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2018, in Los Angeles. The toddler twins share almost everything: the same toys, the same nursery, the clothes and the same parents. Everything but a toothbrush and U.S.... (Associated Press) 
 
 LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ethan and Aiden Dvash-Banks are toddler twins who share almost everything: the same toys, the same nursery, the same clothes and the same parents. Everything but a toothbrush and U.S. citizenship. 
 
 To remedy what their parents, a gay married couple, view as an injustice, Ethan Dvash-Banks became a plaintiff at the tender age of 16 months in a federal lawsuit against the U.S. State Department that seeks the same rights his brother has as an American citizen. 
 
 "What we're trying to do is pursue justice for Ethan," said Elad Dvash-Banks, his biological dad, "and correct a wrong that the State Department is continuing to pursue that might affect other couples." 
 
 The lawsuit was one of two filed Monday by an LGBTQ immigrant rights group that said the State Department is discriminating against same-sex binational couples by denying their children citizenship at birth. The cases filed in Los Angeles and Washington by Immigration Equality said the children of a U.S. citizen who marries abroad are entitled to U.S. citizenship at birth no matter where they are born and even if the other parent is a foreigner. 
 
 The State Department said it doesn't comment on pending litigation, but pointed to guidance on its website that says there must be a biological connection to a U.S. citizen to become a citizen at birth. 
 
 Aaron Morris, executive director of Immigration Equality, said the State Department is wrongly applying a policy for children born out of wedlock to married same-sex couples. 
 
 "If a mother and father walk into a consulate and have a marriage certificate and birth certificate, they're never asked any questions about the biology of the child," said Aaron Morris, executive director of Immigration Equality. "But the converse is also true and every same-sex couple will be asked that." 
 
 The other case filed Monday involves two women, one from the U.S., and one from Italy, who met in New York, wed in London and each gave birth to a son. The State Department didn't recognize the couple's marriage, the lawsuit said, and only granted citizenship to the boy whose biological mother was born and raised in the U.S. 
 
 Citizenship issues frequently arise with births overseas — even for heterosexual U.S. citizens — and particularly with the use of artificial insemination and surrogates, said immigration lawyer Ally Bolour, who is not involved in the lawsuit. The Supreme Court's rejection in 2013 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which had barred the federal government from recognizing same-sex marriages, opened the door to the potentially ground-breaking challenges now being brought, he said. 
 
 "This is an absolutely fascinating, cutting edge area of law that stems from (DOMA) being overturned," Bolour said. "It was just a matter of time for this issue to be decided by the courts." 
 
 Andrew Dvash-Banks was studying in Israel when he met his future husband, Elad, an Israeli citizen. Because they couldn't marry at the time in the U.S. or in Israel, they moved to Canada, where they wed in 2010. Each boy was conceived with donor eggs and the sperm from a different father, but born by the same surrogate mother in September 2016. 
 
 Everything seemed fine until the couple brought their cranky infants to the American consulate in Toronto a few months later to apply for citizenship and the woman at the counter began asking probing questions they found shocking and humiliating. 
 
 The consular official told them she had discretion to require a DNA test to show who the biological father was of each boy and without those tests neither son would get citizenship. The men knew that Andrew was Aiden's biological father and Elad was Ethan's but they had kept it a secret and hadn't planned on telling anyone. 
 
 "I started crying," Andrew Dvash-Banks said. "These are twins, how can you differentiate between them? They were born minutes apart." 
 
 After submitting the DNA test results that proved who fathered each boy, the couple received a large and small envelope from the U.S. on March 2. The big one included Aiden's passport. The other was a letter notifying Andrew that Ethan's application had been denied. 
 
 The family has since moved to Los Angeles to be closer to Andrew Dvash-Banks' family. Ethan came on a tourist visa that expired last month. 
 
 "He doesn't have legal status," Andrew Dvash-Banks said. ||||| Government’s decision to treat two sons differently based on their paternal DNA casts a harsh light on the treatment of LGBT immigrant couples: ‘You’re not fully equal’ 
 
 Aiden and Ethan Dvash-Banks were born four minutes apart. The twins, now 16 months old, love chasing each other around the house, wear the same clothes and share an obsession with Elmo. 
 
 In the eyes of the US government, however, the boys are not equal. Aiden is a citizen – and Ethan is undocumented. The boys’ parents are a married gay couple, and even though they legally share the same two fathers, the government has ruled only one is eligible to be a citizen. 
 
 In a new federal lawsuit, the Los Angeles family is challenging a policy that they say discriminates against LGBT people by denying birthright citizenship to the children of gay couples based on blood relationships. The fathers, a US citizen and an Israeli citizen, are both listed on the birth certificates of the twins and legally are the exclusive parents of the boys, who shared a surrogate. But because Ethan has the DNA of the Israeli father and Aiden has the DNA of the US father, the government has denied Ethan. 
 
 “The message is that you’re not fully equal. Your family is less than other families,” said Andrew Dvash-Banks, the father with US citizenship, who was born and raised in Los Angeles. “My son has been wronged here by the government. We’re fighting this to protect our son and our family.” 
 
 The case has shone a harsh light on the unique hurdles that LGBT immigrant families continue to face, even years after marriage equality became the law of the land in the US. 
 
 What the state department decision has done was to basically tear my family apart Elad Dvash-Banks 
 
 Andrew and his husband Elad met at a party 10 years ago in Tel Aviv where they were both university students. They were engaged two years later and married in Canada in 2010 when gay marriage was still illegal in the US. 
 
 They planned to have children and build a life in California, where Andrew’s family lives, and they eventually conceived the twins using their own sperm and eggs from the same anonymous donor. The twins were born in Canada in 2016 and, according to the lawsuit, both should have been eligible for citizenship since they each had a US citizen parent. 
 
 Straight couples in this scenario would have no problem getting applications approved, according to their lawyer, but the US consulate in Toronto asked them invasive questions about how their babies were conceived and eventually told them they needed DNA tests. 
 
 In March, they received one large envelope for Aiden, congratulating him on his citizenship and granting him a passport – and a smaller envelope for Ethan, saying he was denied. 
 
 “That moment was hard,” said Elad, a 32-year-old nonprofit worker, who has a green card. “What the state department decision has done was to basically tear my family apart.” 
 
 Facebook Twitter Pinterest The family’s lawsuit argues it is unconstitutional to deny one of the brothers citizenship, and that the government’s policy is anti-LGBT. Photograph: Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images 
 
 The family of four eventually moved to California anyway, securing a temporary tourist visa for Ethan, which recently expired. The couple has applied for a green card for Ethan, which means he is currently undocumented. 
 
 “That is something that keeps us up at night – the safety and wellbeing of our child,” said Andrew, a 37-year-old travel manager. 
 
 In addition to the stress, Ethan’s uncertain status has prevented the family from traveling to Tel Aviv so Elad’s parents can meet their grandchildren. 
 
 The lawsuit, filed by not-for-profit Immigration Equality, alleges that it was unconstitutional to deny Ethan citizenship and that the policy is anti-LGBT. The government is wrongly citing a rule that is meant to require unwed fathers to prove blood relationships – not married gay parents, according to the complaint. 
 
 'Love Is Love': media firm uses LGBT language to send anti-gay message Read more 
 
 “The state department is treating same-sex couples as if they were not married, and they are disenfranchising their children,” said Aaron C Morris, Immigration Equality executive director and the couple’s attorney. “Stripping a child of citizenship is one of the most heinous detriments the government could do to a child simply because his parents are gay, lesbian or bisexual.” 
 
 The group has also filed a parallel lawsuit on behalf of another couple – Allison Blixt, a US citizen, and Stefania Zaccari, an Italian citizen. The two met in New York and eventually married and had two sons in London. One, however, was denied US citizenship, because he was carried by Zaccari. 
 
 The state department declined to comment. 
 
 Morris said the problem began under the Obama administration after marriage equality became law. He said there was no data about the number of families affected, but noted that every married gay couple in this situation is being denied. 
 
 Elad and Andrew said they were anxious about having to one day explain to their boys why the government does not treat them equally and why Aiden can run for president, but Ethan can’t. 
 
 But Elad said he was hopeful their twins would eventually have the same rights – and that their fight would change the rules for everyone: “We are going to make history.”
– Sixteen-month-old Aiden Dvash-Banks is a US citizen living with his family in Los Angeles. His twin brother, Ethan, is undocumented and thus at risk of being deported. It's an unusual situation that highlights discrimination against LGBT families by the US government, according to the boys' married male parents, who have filed a lawsuit against the State Department with Immigration Equality, reports the Guardian. Andrew Dvash-Banks, a US citizen, and Elad Dvash-Banks, an Israeli citizen, argue both twins should be given US citizenship since each has an American parent. The men were married in Canada, and the twins were born there, and the issue came up as the family began the legal process of moving to Los Angeles. US officials required DNA tests for the twins, then denied Ethan citizenship because he carries Elad's DNA, while Aiden carries Andrew's. "The message is that you're not fully equal," Andrew tells the Guardian. "What the State Department decision has done was to basically tear my family apart," adds Elad. The couple's lawyer, Aaron Morris, argues citizenship for both boys would've been approved quickly if their parents were straight. "If a mother and father walk into a consulate and have a marriage certificate and birth certificate, they're never asked any questions about the biology of the child," he tells the AP. "Every same-sex couple will be asked that." A second suit notes the government denied citizenship to the son of a US woman who was birthed by her Italian wife, per the Washington Post. The State Department refuses to comment on either suit but stresses a biological or blood connection must be established between a parent and child for that child to become a citizen at birth.