The American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia filed the lawsuit recently on behalf of new parents, Elizabeth Handy and Bilal Walk, who wanted to name their daughter, ZalyKha Graceful Lorraina Allah.
The state officials said the child’s surname – ZalyKha Graceful Lorraina Allah – should either be Handy, Walk or a combination of the two, Telegraph reports.
According to lawyers from Georgia Department of Public Health, the state law requires a baby’s surname to be either that of the father or the mother for the initial birth record.
The couple said they gave her the name Allah because it is “noble.” “Simply put, we have a personal understanding that we exercise in regards to the names,” Walk said. “It is nothing that we want to go into detail about, because it is not important. What is important is the language of the statute and our rights as parents.”
The couple says they can’t get a Social Security number for their daughter because they don’t have a birth certificate. “It is just plainly unfair and a violation of our rights,” Walk said.
The state’s decision is an example of government overreach and a violation of the First and 14th Amendments, ACLU of Georgia Executive Director Andrea Young said.
The parents get to decide the name of the child. Not the state. It is an easy case,” said Michael Baumrind, another attorney representing the family.
