No matter how the U.S. Supreme Court rules on marriage equality in the next few weeks, same-sex parents should still do second-parent adoptions, some leading LGBTQ legal experts are saying.
That’s the position of GLAD (Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders), according to Carisa Cunningham, Director of Public Affairs and Education, via an e-mail to me. Stay tuned for further details in the coming weeks once the Supreme Court issues its decision—but know that Cunningham says GLAD and several other leading LGBTQ legal organizations “will continue to recommend that non-biological parents get an adoption.” GLAD’s Mary Bonauto argued for marriage equality at the Supreme Court, and in the historic Massachusetts marriage equality case in 2003, so I’d like to think they know what they’re talking about.
Why will second-parent adoptions still be a good idea? An article by Tara Siegel Bernard in yesterday’s New York Times, “Same-Sex Parents’ Rights May Be Unresolved After Justices’ Ruling,” explored the same issue, noting:
Traditionally, children born to a married woman are generally presumed to be the legal children of her husband. Many states also have laws that say the husband of a woman who is artificially inseminated with donor sperm is the child’s legal father, if he consents to the procedure. Those laws also apply to two married women in many states, but it is unclear whether all states will adopt that position if same-sex marriage is legalized nationwide.
A nonbiological parent may also not have a legal connection to children born before the parents’ legal marriage. Additionally, travel makes things tricky: “If they travel to, move to or divorce in a state where the parenting law is vague, there may be risks without an adoption or another court order of parentage.”
Aside from second-parent adoptions, new “religious freedom” laws, such as the one that passed in Michigan last week, could limit LGBTQ people’s ability to foster or adopt from child welfare agencies even if a Supreme Court ruling brings marriage equality to their states. Parental rights are not the same as marriage rights, as I’ve said before.
The NYT piece is well worth reading in full. It stands in contrast to articles like “Lesbian Moms May Soon No Longer Have To Adopt Their Own Kids,” from Seattle’s KUOW, which states, “A U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalizes marriages across 50 states could eventually make second parent adoptions irrelevant.” If one puts enough emphasis on the word “eventually,” then perhaps that’s right—but it doesn’t look like it will be any time soon, alas.
