The Price of LGBTQ Parenthood
What does it cost for an LGBTQ person to become a parent and raise a child in the U.S. today? What are the particular challenges we face? I investigate those questions in a new article for the Advocate.
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Arizona Court: Married Nonbio Mom Has No Claim to Parenthood; Obergefell Is Irrelevant
The Arizona Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that a nonbiological mother is not entitled to be seen as a parent, even though she was married to the biological mother, they planned the child together, and both of their names were on the child’s birth certificate. It also said that the U.S. Supreme Court’s marriage equality ruling in Obergefell has nothing to do with parenting statutes.
Three Parents Recognized in NY Ruling
For Pi Day, a post brought to you by the number three: A New York judge has granted shared custody to three people who had been raising a child together in a polyamorous triad—and relied on the earlier case of a two-mom couple in in his ruling.
Birth Certificate Victory for Same-Sex Spouses in Wisconsin
A federal court has ruled that Wisconsin must issue accurate birth certificates for children of married same-sex couples. Yes, even more than a year after national marriage equality, we’re still having to go to court to protect our families.
A Change of Season
I love the start of fall. It’s still warm, but without the oppressive edge of summer heat. The nights are cool, and the air brings with it the smell of leaves about to change. It’s my favorite time of year for bike riding, when I can pedal past the first hints of yellow and orange in the foliage and feel the change of season in my bones. We’re at a season change in LGBTQ equality, too, I thought to myself on a recent ride.
Campaign Aims to Reform State Laws to Support LGBT Parents
The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) yesterday launched #Equality4Families, a campaign to raise awareness about the need to reform state laws so they fully protect LGBT parents’ rights to care for their children.
Are Same-Sex Parents “the New Beacons of Old Family Values”?
Today’s must-read article tries to answer the question, “What gay marriage means for the future of parenthood.”
LGBT Parenting: 40 Years of a “Quieter Revolution”
President Obama has said that same-sex parents and their children influenced his decision to support marriage equality. And in the Washington Post recently, Janice D’Arcy asked, “Has gay parenting ‘normalized’ the perception of gay relationships?” The interaction between LGBT parenting rights and relationship rights is indeed a fascinating and important question—and one charted in part by law professor Carlos Ball, whose new book also gives us a compelling history of the expansion of LGBT parenting rights. Here’s my review of his work, originally published as my Mombian newspaper column.
Good News In Pennsylvania Custody Ruling
Too good to wait for the next roundup: The Pennsylvania state Superior Court overturned a 25-year-old precedent that said in custody cases involving former opposite-sex couples, where one person is now in a same-sex relationship, the burden is placed on the LGB parent to prove that the same-sex relationship will have no adverse effect on
LGBT Parenting Roundup
Politics and Law A must-read this week is Jacob M. Appel’s piece on the growing “sperm donors’ rights movement,” in which donors are trying to assert their claims to parenthood. New Mexico’s new parentage laws go into effect on January 1, Nancy Polikoff reminds us. The Really Quite Wonderful new law states: “a person who…consents