The Arizona Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that a nonbiological mother is not entitled to be seen as a parent, even though she was married to the biological mother, they planned the child together, and both of their names were on the child’s birth certificate. It also said that the U.S. Supreme Court’s marriage equality ruling in Obergefell has nothing to do with parenting statutes.
The governor of Texas has added his state to the list of those that allow child placement agencies to discriminate against LGBTQ, Jewish, Muslim, single, divorced, or other prospective parents based on the agency’s “sincerely held religious beliefs.” This will serve to limit the number of homes available to children in need. The new law will also permit LGBTQ youth to be sent to widely discredited “conversion therapy” and allow agencies to refuse to refer people to medically appropriate reproductive health services.
A court in Mississippi has not only said a nonbiological mother has no parental rights over the child she helped to plan for, support, and raise with her ex-spouse, but that their anonymous sperm donor does. The mom, however, is fighting back.
For the fifth Congress in a row, the Every Child Deserves a Family Act has been introduced in an attempt to ensure that no child in need of a home is denied one because of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.
The Texas legislature has advanced two bills that will cause harm to children living in the state. One keeps transgender students from using the bathroom that matches their gender identity; the other allows religion-based discrimination in adoption and foster care.
The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) is turning 40, and reminds us that although their scope has broadened, they began with the goal of helping lesbian and bisexual mothers who came out and were at risk of losing their children.
Four expectant two-mom (well, mom-to-be) couples in Tennessee are suing the State of Tennessee after Gov. Bill Haslam (R) signed a bill requiring state law to interpret words by their “natural and ordinary meaning”—which LGBTQ advocates say could deny rights to same-sex couples. But the week also saw good news for one nonbiological mom fighting for custody rights in the state.
The president, Congress, and State of Alabama each took steps this week that could harm our families. There was one spot of good news, however.
Mona Greenbaum, a pioneering advocate for LGBTQ families in Canada, talks about her own family and the progress of equality in Canada in a video for the Canadian Museum for Human Rights. Watch.
I can’t say I’m surprised. But after President Obama’s National Foster Care Month proclamations in 2015 and 2016 specifically said that “regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, or marital status,” all qualified caregivers should have the opportunity to serve as foster or adoptive parents, President Trump’s omission of these categories feels narrow-minded and short-sighted.
