A lesbian couple has filed a complaint against a Spanish hospital for ‘discrimination’ over their sexual orientation and unmarried status after they were not allowed to register the birth of their daughter.

Silvia Sanchez and Violeta Cubero have reported the University Clinical Hospital of Valladolid in the city of the same name in the Spanish region of Castile and Leon for discrimination after their baby Ada was born on the night of 31st December.

According to the news site 20 Minutos, the couple was not allowed to legally register their baby at the hospital due to ‘red tape’ regarding unmarried and same-sex couples.

Virginia Barcones, Castile and Leon government official and member of the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE), explained that current legislation does not allow the hospital to register a baby if the parents are unmarried, adding: “If two women or two men are married there is no problem because there was a reform of the Civil Code that allows it, but the problem arises if two people (of the same sex) are not married.”

However, she explained that this requirement is not necessary in the case of heterosexual couples, adding: “The woman who is not the biological mother has to carry out an adoption procedure, which is what is currently stipulated in the regulations.

“They refused to register her because she is the daughter of two mothers. Meanwhile, the rest of the babies were included in the registry, but she was not.”

Castile and Leon health minister Alejandro Vazquez has apologised to the couple for the “administrative failure” that prevented the hospital from registering the girl, and vowed to “review” protocols so medical centres can register “all the necessary documents” to everyone in the future.

Vazquez also pointed out that the hospital director apologised directly to the couple during a press conference, adding: “When we fail, we apologise.”

Silvia said that little Ada “is two days old and without knowing it, her fight has just begun”.

LGTBI groups expressed their outrage at the incident as the couple’s legal challenge continues.