COURT SAYS BOTH IN GAY UNION ARE PARENTS: From the Washington Post

A Vermont family court has ruled that both parties in a same-sex civil union are legal parents of a child, a contradiction of an earlier Virginia court ruling that awarded custody to the biological parent.

The cases center on Lisa and Janet Miller-Jenkins, who were joined in a civil union in the Green Mountain State in 2000 and split up last year. They are now embroiled in a contentious custody dispute over Isabella, 2, to whom Lisa Miller-Jenkins gave birth in Virginia after being artificially inseminated.

Janet Miller-Jenkins is her former partner in a Vermont civil union.

In August, Frederick County Judge John R. Prosser ruled that Lisa Miller-Jenkins is Isabella's "sole parent," citing a Virginia law that prohibits recognition of same-sex unions.

But in a Nov. 17 ruling, Rutland Family Court Judge William D. Cohen in Vermont wrote that "parties to a civil union who use artificial insemination to conceive a child can be treated no differently than a husband and wife, who, unable to conceive a child biologically, choose to conceive a child by inseminating the wife with the sperm of an anonymous donor." ...

In most custody disputes, the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Act helps states resolve jurisdictional issues. But it is unclear how that law applies to cases involving same-sex relationships that have legal standing in some states but not in others.

more

posted by Eve at 4:33 PM | link

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home