the state's Division of Taxation, ruling in an estate tax case, announced it would treat couples in same-sex marriages or civil unions established in other jurisdictions as legally married, basing its decision on the state's civil union law and the state's tradition of recognizing marriages validly performed elsewhere. Rhode Island has provided benefits to same-sex partners of state employees since 2001. A bill to legalize same-sex marriage was introduced in the Rhode Island General Assembly on January 11, 2011. Governor Lincoln Chafee announced his support. In May 2011, a bill to legalize civil unions for same-sex couples was introduced. It passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 62–11, and passed the Senate on June 29 by a vote of 21 to 16. Governor Chafee signed the legislation on July 2, 2011 and the law was made effective from July 1, 2011. By January 2013, only 68 couples had obtained civil union licenses. Legislation establishing same-sex marriage in Rhode Island was enacted in May 2013, effective August 1. Since August 1, two persons who are parties to a civil union entered into before that date may convert their union into a marriage. Adoption and parenting The Rhode Island Family Court routinely grants same-sex adoptions and has been doing so since at least 1995. Couples need not reside in Rhode Island and may be adopting their own birth child, using a surrogate, or adopting a child already placed with them. A decree lists both partners as parents. After the adoption, the Rhode Island Department of Health, Division of Vital Statistics will amend the birth certificate of a child born in Rhode Island to name both partners as parents. A birth certificate issued in Rhode Island carries the names of both parents, including same-sex parents. Lesbian couples have access to in vitro fertilization. State law recognizes the non-genetic, non-gestational mother as a legal parent to a child born via donor insemination. Surrogacy is neither prohibited nor expressly permitted in Rhode Island. Whether a surrogacy contract, gestational or traditional, will be recognized depends on the Rhode Island Family Court. Based on recent decisions from said court, the state may grant parentage declarations before birth to married couples, unmarried couples and individuals. Same-sex couples are treated in the same manner as opposite-sex couples. In July 2020, the General Assembly amended state parentage laws to insure that unmarried couples and same-sex couples do not