The Yukon government has tabled legislation to amend the Vital Statistics Act to recognize same-sex parents.

The current rules require the non-birth parent to adopt the child before they can be listed as a parent on the birth certificate.

The new act will include a new category for "other parent” in addition to mother and father.

The other parent category is defined as the spouse of the mother or father at the time the child was born.

A government release issued Wednesday notes that birth certificates and birth registration forms will be changed immediately to enable same-sex parents to be registered. This can also be done retroactively.

"Updating the Vital Statistics Act to include same-sex partners is long overdue,” Health and Social Services Minister Doug Graham said in the release.

"We're living in a modern society where children are increasingly raised in blended families by single or same-sex parents.”

The Department of Justice is currently working to identify other pieces of legislation that need to be updated to remove discriminatory language.

When the review is complete, the government will table an omnibus bill to make all relevant changes at once.

"We are committed to thoroughly addressing this complex topic in a non-discriminating manner,” Graham said in the release.

Jan Stick, the NDP's Health and Social Services critic, said this morning she's pleased to see the changes come forward, adding the official Opposition intends to support the amendments.

"I'm really pleased to see that they've done it simply, mother, father, other parent,” she said.

But Stick is impatient to see the full slate of necessary changes made.

"It's unfortunate we had to wait this long for it ... this isn't the only piece of legislation; there's more, so we're looking forward to seeing the rest of the pieces come forward,” she said.

With only eight days of the spring sitting remaining, the omnibus bill won't see the floor of the legislature until the fall at the earliest.

The discriminatory aspects of the Vital Statistics Act came under fire earlier this spring when Corinne Gurtler and Cai Krikorian shared their personal experience with the public.

Gurtler discovered soon after the birth of her son, Mirek, that she'd have to adopt him if she wanted her name to appear on the birth certificate because she's not his biological mother, Krikorian is.

After being contacted by the family, the NDP put forward a motion urging the government to make the necessary changes to the Vital Statistics Act and any other discriminatory legislation.