Diane Silver’s piece “Children suffer when the religious right wins,” in the Gay and Lesbian Times is worth a read. She writes of the relief she felt when her son Tony turned 18, relief in knowing no one could take him away from her. She is Tony’s non-biological mom, and almost lost him to her […]
The Department of Justice today filed its reply brief in Smelt v. United States, one of the legal challenges to the Defense of Marriage Act. Things look cautiously promising: With respect to the merits, this Administration does not support DOMA as a matter of policy, believes that it is discriminatory, and supports its repeal. Consistent
Washington, D.C. isn’t the only part of the Mid-Atlantic region to pass groundbreaking parentage legislation of late. The Delaware legislature recently passed a statute creating de facto parent status when the de facto parent: Has had the support and consent of the child’s parent or parents who fostered the formation and establishment of a parent-like
In a national first, a new Washington, D.C. law grants legal parenthood to both women of a couple who plan a child together using donor insemination. More specifically: When a woman bears a child conceived by artificial insemination, and her spouse or unmarried partner consents in writing to the insemination, the consenting spouse or partner
Two lesbian moms who had a child in Florida are in the midst of a custody battle with their known sperm donor. The donor, Ray Janssen, and his partner Craig were involved with the child’s life until the moms, Katherine Alicea and Ana Sobrino, moved to California. Janssen then sued them for custody. A Miami-Dade
I wrote yesterday about the Utah court that just denied parenting rights to non-bio mom Gena Edvalson. The court said the parenting contract she had signed with her former partner Jana Dickson “directly offends the state’s public policy that parents retain the fundamental right to exercise the primary control over the care and supervision of
A couple of months ago, I mentioned the case of Gena Edvalson and Jana Dickson, a former couple now involved in a custody and visitation dispute over the three-year-old son they created together through assisted insemination and raised together until their breakup in 2007. Dickson, the bio mom, is now married to a man and
Once again, Nancy Polikoff is making me think this week. Yesterday, she managed to inform us of why media treatment of Michael Jackson may indeed have a direct impact on LGBT families: The news reports this morning about the circumstances of the conception of Michael Jackson’s children are suggesting that the information might impact who
This just in: More good news for non-bio moms, to add to the Jenkins-Miller decision I posted about earlier: A California Court of Appeal has denied the latest appeal (PDF) of Kristina S., a biological, “ex-lesbian” mom who has been trying since 2004 to prevent her former partner Charisma R. from being declared a legal
On Monday, I posted happy news of changes to the Uniform Probate Code that would allow for greater recognition of non-bio moms. Lawyer Nancy Polikoff, who was the source of the news, now lets us know of a custody case involving a non-bio mom that has me spitting nails in anger. Leslea and Michelle White,
