Hot off the presses: The good news keeps rolling in this week: The Arkansas Blog (from the Arkansas Times) reports that the state Department of Human Services will drop its rule that prohibits placement of foster children in homes with unmarried couples (and by definition, same-sex couples). “Instead, it will decide placement on a case […]
Good news: The U.S. Supreme Court today refused to hear a case “that would have had far-reaching implications for lesbians and single women choosing to bear children,” according to law professor Nancy Polikoff, author of Beyond (Straight and Gay) Marriage: Valuing All Families under the Law. The case involves a Kansas woman whose sperm donor
Because the financial bailout isn’t the only thing happening this week: Ten-year-old Kira Findling of Sebastopol, California, wrote “Please Let My Moms Be Married,” a moving plea to vote no on Prop. 8, for the Press Democrat newspaper. A new report by the nonpartisan Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute in New York concludes that gay
Quick: How many famous gay dads can you name? For me, the answer is “Not many.” While most of us can reel off at least a few names of famous lesbian moms, starting with Melissa and Rosie (if not the whole list of Most Powerful Lesbian Moms in America), I think we’d be hard pressed
The Kentucky Court of Appeals ruled this week that adoptions by stepparents are allowed only when the stepparent is married to the child’s biological parent. In a catch-22, same-sex stepparents cannot therefore adopt because Kentucky has a constitutional amendment banning marriage of same-sex couples. The ruling holds regardless of whether the person was involved in
A nice tall glass of sunshine to start your day: A Monroe Circuit Court judge in Florida ruled that the state’s 31-year-old ban on adoption by gay men and lesbians is unconstitutional. The judgment will allow a gay Key West foster parent to adopt a teenage boy he has raised since 2001, an action deemed
Could Lindsay Lohan and rumored girlfriend Samantha Ronson be starting a rumored family? Gossip site PerezHilton.com brings us scuttlebutt from the U.K.’s fine bastion of journalism, News of the World, which says the two are considering parenthood. Hmm. Could it be mere coincidence that Lohan is starring in a new movie titled Labor Pains, whose
Some happenings in the world of LGBT parenting: A Swedish lesbian couple is seeking 50,000 kronor ($7,700) in compensation from the Västerbotten County Council. The ombudsman against discrimination due to sexual orientation (HomO), arguing for the couple, says that in order to receive county-financed assisted insemination, a couple must be diagnosed with a medical problem.
(Originally published in Bay Windows (PDF link), July 24, 2008) For many same-sex couples, one of the primary motivations for getting married is to gain legal protections for our children. Nancy Polikoff, professor of law at American University Washington College of Law, cautions us, however, that we should not tie parenthood and marriage too tightly.
Lest you think I’ve become entirely obsessed with the Olympics (almost, but not quite), here’s a roundup of what’s happening in LGBT parenting news: The California Supreme Court ruled today that a group of doctors cannot use their religion as a legal excuse for denying a lesbian patient infertility treatment. Lambda Legal reports, “In a
