A Circuit Court judge in Multnomah County, Oregon ruled Friday that a non-biological mother should receive automatic legal parental status over her partner’s biological child—that is, without needing to go through adoption procedures. If this wasn’t good enough news, the judge also found that “two Oregon laws (ORS 109.070 and ORS 109.243) granting parental rights […]
The legislators of Massachusetts did the right thing. Final vote was 45 in favor of sending a same-sex marriage ban to the voters; 151 against. Congratulations to all those who fought for this and supported the cause of equality. Now I need to call my spouse at work and tell her the news.
A piece of news too good to wait for my Weekly Political Roundup: Colorado is now the 10th state in the country to allow second-parent adoptions. Both same- and opposite-sex unmarried couples may now adopt children together. Governor Bill Ritter signed the bill into law yesterday, despite pressure from conservative religious groups to veto it.
The Advocate reports that “two women will be listed as parents on the birth certificate of a baby born this week in New Jersey, one of the first implications of a state supreme court ruling that gives same-sex couples access to the same rights as married couples.” This parentage decision, by a New Jersey family
Thanks to HRC for this hot-off-the-presses news: The federal Pension Protection Act signed into law today by President Bush includes two provisions extending important financial protections to same-sex couples as well as other Americans. HRC explains: The first provision, called “Non-Spousal Rollover”: Allows the transfer of an individual’s retirement plan benefits, like a 401(k), to
This news is so good and so relevant to LGBT families that I’m not saving it for my usual Friday political update: A federal judge struck down Oklahoma’s Adoption Invalidation Law prohibiting Oklahoma from recognizing adoptions by same-sex couples from other states and countries. This was perhaps the most anti-LGBT-family law in the country, and
Some good news to end the year: Same-sex couples (and heterosexual, non-married couples) in the UK are now legally able to adopt children or become co-parents through in-vitro fertilization. The Adoption and Children Act also gives parents who gave up children for adoption the right to try and trace their children, and to be put
Following the California Senate, which voted last week, the California Assembly approved a measure to allow same-sex couples to marry in California. This is the first time a legislature has voted to endorse same-sex marriage. (It was a judicial decision in Massachusetts.) The measure passed after a heated debate, and now goes to Governor Arnold
The California Senate today approved a bill to legalize same-sex marriage in California. Don’t head to the Golden Gates quite yet, however; the legislation still needs to be approved by the state Assembly, a move that is by no means certain. Still, this is the first time any state legislative house has approved such a
The California Supreme Court issued three rulings yesterday stating that lesbian partners who have children while they are a couple are both entitled, and required, to be treated as the children’s parents, regardless of whether they are formally registered as domestic partners. This puts lesbian parents on an equal footing with unmarried heterosexual parents, and
