LGBT Parenting Roundup

Politics and Law

• First, a great ruling from the Oregon Court of Appeals via the vigilant Nancy Polikoff: “If the biological mom’s partner consents to the insemination [of her partner], she is also the parent of the resulting child.” The ruling states, in part: “There appears to be no reason for permitting heterosexual couples to bypass adoption proceedings by conceiving a child through mutually consensual artificial insemination, but not permitting same-sex couples to do so.”Compare this with last week’s ruling from Utah, which said that not only did the non-bio mom have no rights in a similar case, but that the parenting contract between the two mothers “directly offends the state’s public policy.” Polikoff dissects the Oregon case in a post at her blog, and it’s worth a read, even though it wades deep into legal analysis.
• Cindy Lederman, the Miami-Dade Florida circuit court judge who ruled that Florida’s ban against adoption by gay men and lesbians was unconstitutional, has been removed from her post as top administrative judge over Miami-Dade’s juvenile courts, although she will remain within the juvenile court system. The new Chief Justice for the Miami courts says he “wants new perspectives and leadership.” Thanks to Waymon Hudson at Bilerico for the news, and also for his personal story—Lederman placed Waymon’s foster son with him and his partner.
• YLE.fi reports that dozens of couples in registered same-gender relationships in Finland are filing adoption applications ahead of new “internal adoption” (second-parent adoption) legislation that takes effect in September. One child rights organization, however, is warning that couples should expect waits of around one year for officials to finalize adoption decisions.
• The Lithuanian Parliament approved a bill banning public information that could be “detrimental” to minors, including material that encourages homosexual, bisexual or polygamous relations, or which “subverts family relations and degrades its values”. The bill is not solely concerned with LGBT matters, however. It also bans “the distribution of images of heterosexual intercourse, death and severe injury,” and its amendments cover the paranormal, foul language and bad eating habits, according to Deutsche Welle.
• The Upper House of the state Parliament of New South Wales, Australia, has concluded that the definition of a couple in the Adoption Act should be amended to include same-sex couples. Currently, lesbians and gay men may adopt as individuals but not as couples. The Law and Justice Committee could not reach a unanimous conclusion, however, and the future of the proposal is uncertain.
• Meanwhile, lesbians in Queensland, Australia may use IVF to have children or register as foster parents, but cannot adopt children, even to do a second-parent adoption of the child they planned with a partner. Queensland Child Safety Minister Phil Reeves said it is unlikely the state government’s position will change, but the country’s Human Rights Commissioner, Graeme Innes, has said he would like a national law permitting lesbian and gay people to adopt.

Creating Our Families

• The New York Times reports on the increasing use of surrogates, not only for gay men, but for opposite-couples as well. There are some generally useful tips about how to talk about surrogates with your kids.

Education and Schools

• Sirdeaner Walker, the mother of an 11-year-old boy who committed suicide in April after anti-gay bullying, spoke about school safety to two House subcommittees. The House is considering a Safe Schools Improvement Act that would help administrators protect students against bullying.
• The National Education Association has adopted a resolution in support of equal rights and benefits for LGBT people, and another calling for a federal statute prohibiting federal discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity and expression. They did not, however, call for full marriage equality, saying instead that each state should determine the term it will use for recognized same-sex relationships.

Personal Stories

• Laura Kiritsy at Bay Windows profiled Ken and Marcia Garber of Quincy, Mass., who were recently honored with an award by the Youth Committee of the Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition. The straight couple is active in the LGBT community, particularly the transgender community, in memory of their son, CJ. Garber, a 20-year-old transgender man who died of a drug overdose in January.
• Ethan Jacobs, also at Bay Windows, has a nice profile of Laura Alefantis and Rochelle Rousseau, a couple from Lawrence, Mass. who are fostering a young boy through Casey Family Services, a local office of the Department of Children and Families (DCF). The couple discusses their personal experiences with the boy as well as their experience with Casey. They are the first same-sex couple to work with the agency, although Casey has been trying to solicit LGBT foster parents for a few years.
• The mother of a gay son in Ireland sent a letter to the Irish justice minister calling for the country’s civil partnerships bill to be revised to permit full marriage equality. The letter has found its way to Web sites around the world, and inspired a protest outside the Irish parliament.