It’s Census time here in the U.S. and we’ll all be getting Census mailings over the next few weeks. While the questions have expanded since 2010 to be more inclusive of same-sex couples, though, they still don’t fully reflect LGBTQ identities or families. I’m forcing myself to complete it to the best of my ability, however. Here’s why you should do the same.
It’s hard to believe that nearly five years after federal marriage equality, we’re still seeing courts having to determine if same-sex married parents may both be on their children’s birth certificates. At least this recent decision in Indiana was a positive one.
New Jersey has just enacted a law allowing married/civil unioned LGBTQ couples using assisted reproduction to avoid the intrusive, expensive, second-parent adoption process and simply file a few documents in order to get a court judgment confirming the nonbiological parent’s legal parentage.
The Oklahoma Supreme Court not only ruled in favor of a nonbiological mother in a child custody case yesterday, but established guidelines for future cases, writing conclusively that “A non-biological same-sex parent stands in parity with a biological parent.”
Many queer parents and allies turned out at a Rhode Island House hearing last week to testify in support of two bills that would make it easier for parents of any gender, married or not, to establish legal parentage of a child born through assisted reproduction and to streamline the process of second-parent adoptions.
There’s been more coverage on both coasts of the new free forms that some states have just approved, giving same-sex parents, even when unmarried, legal rights to a child born to one of them, with the force of a court order. Read or watch below!
An appeals court in Kentucky has ruled against a nonbiological mother seeking joint custody and visitation of the child she was raising with her former partner, even though a lower court had found both women to have equal parental rights. The women were unmarried—and the case raises troubling concerns for unmarried same-sex parents.
A simple, free form that gives both parents, regardless of gender, legal parentage of a child born to one of them, with the force of a court decree? Such a thing exists in a small but growing number of states, as the Associated Press recently reported. That’s terrific progress—but there’s still a long way to go before it’s a widespread option for securing parentage.
Lots of great family stories this time, plus a few other bits of news from round and about. Have a read!
Could you use some good news today out of our courts? I sure could. The Supreme Court of Hawaii on Friday upheld a lower court ruling that said a nonbiological mother is a parent to the child she and her former spouse had through assisted reproduction.
