LGBT Parenting Roundup

Politics and Law

•  The U.S. Supreme Court denied Lambda Legal’s petition to have them hear the case of a two gay dads seeking a new birth certificate for their adopted son. The boy was born in Louisiana but adopted in New York, and the men wanted a birth certificate listing them both as parents—not least so one dad could add the boy to his health insurance policy. Although new birth certificates are common for children adopted by opposite-sex couples, the Louisiana state registrar has refused to grant one in this case, on the grounds that unmarried couples cannot adopt in the state.
• In happier news, lesbian mom Janice Langbehn received the 2011 Presidential Citizens Medal, the nation’s second-highest civilian honor. In 2007, Langbehn was denied access to her partner Lisa Pond, who lay dying in the hospital. The couple’s three children were kept from Pond as well.  Her story helped motivate President Obama to revise hospital visitation rights for same-sex couples.
• The Virginia State Board of Social Services ended a 30-day online comment period regarding proposed standards for child-placing agencies that would protect “prospective parents based on race, national origin, ethnicity, gender, age, religion, political beliefs, sexual orientation, disability, and family status.” GLAAD reports that the Board received over 2,500 comments, which “focused heavily on adoption rules and whether gay and lesbian couples and individuals should receive the same consideration as straight adoptive parents. Overwhelmingly, fair-minded Virginians commented in favor of non-discrimination measures that protect LGBT families and individuals wanting to adopt.”
• The Australian government is considering whether to amend passport application forms to say ‘Parent 1’ and ‘Parent 2’ alongside Mother and Father. The U.K. government announced last week it would enact such a change, and the U.S. did so earlier this year.
• I’ve written a lot about custody cases involving a biological mom trying to deny custody to a non-biological mom. But in a case involving a bio and non-bio dad, the Texas Supreme Court let stand a lower court ruling granting both men custody. The case may not yet be over, however, as Nancy Polikoff tells us. The Alliance Defense Fund, which has backed a number of non-bio moms in such cases, is backing the bio dad.