LGBT parenting news from here and there:
- The Ohio Supreme Court declined to hear the appeal of a lower court ruling that upheld the joint parenting agreement between two former partners. One partner has tried to use the state ban on same-sex marriage and “marriage substitutes” to void the agreement and deny the other woman custody. The court in this and other cases seems to be taking the stance that the marriage ban applies to institutions that possess all the attributes of marriage, but not to agreements that mimic some of them, like child custody agreements.
- LGBT family group Philadelphia Family Pride, whose reach extends out to the suburbs, celebrated its 15th anniversary January 1.
- A lesbian couple in Raleigh, North Carolina say they were discriminated against at a children’s consignment clothing sale at the State Fairgrounds. One of the partners was volunteering for the event, and showed up with her partner to take advantage of an early preview sale open to volunteers and their spouses. Organizers denied the partner entry, claiming she was not a spouse. The couple began an online protest, and now organizers have agreed to change the policy and allow volunteers to bring a guest of their choice.
- The Australian Government is demanding a New Zealand surrogate mother pay child support for the baby she had for a gay couple in Queensland. Australian law states that surrogates can be made to pay child support if their babies were not legally adopted. Gay male couples are unable to adopt in New Zealand and most of Australia.
- On a related note, the Sunday Star Times profiled the woman in Auckland, New Zealand, mentioned in the above article, who is a surrogate for two gay Australian men.
- Not only that, but a new poll shows that two-thirds of Queenslanders support civil unions, marriage and full legal recognition of same-sex parents.
- There are more than 20,000 same-sex couples raising at least one child in Israel, according to human-rights organization New Family.
- No surprise, then, that Israel is also seeing its first lesbian custody case, complete with one mom who now claims the other “was just another woman living in the same house with them.” Sigh.