The Rhode Island Legislature this afternoon passed a bill that updates the state’s parentage laws to provide stronger, more equitable protections for families formed via assisted reproduction.
Yes, even in Massachusetts, which led the nation in marriage equality, married same-sex couples who use assisted reproduction still need to do lengthy, expensive, and intrusive second-parent adoptions in order for their children to have ironclad legal ties to both parents. A new bill would greatly simplify the process. Bills in New Hampshire and Rhode Island would also streamline the recognition of nonbiological parents—but they all need your support.
Indiana has just asked the U.S. Supreme Court to deny the right of married nonbiological mothers in same-sex couples to be put on their children’s birth certificates without second-parent adoptions. Should Indiana prevail, many children across the country could be denied the legal protection of both parents from the moment of birth. Pull up a chair; we’re going to explore this one in detail.
This is perhaps the first of many quarantine editions of my roundup—because we could all use some interesting and informative reading while we’re hunkered down in our homes. Here are some of the stories about LGBTQ parents and our children that I haven’t covered elsewhere—including some additional kids’ virtual story times.
After a long effort by LGBTQ parents, prospective parents, and other advocates, the State of New York will finally legalize gestational surrogacy—and simplify and strengthen the laws around recognizing nonbiological parents and single parents in all families formed through reproductive technologies.
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.
