California court mulls parental rights in same-sex couple disputes

[question everything]

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

California court mulls parental rights in same-sex couple disputes

By: LISA LEFF - Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO -- In a hearing to determine parental rights for lesbian couples who parted ways after having children, California's highest court on Tuesday was asked to create a legal framework for something society is still wrestling with -- what makes a family.

(snip)

Since gays can't marry and may have legitimate reasons for not registering as domestic partners or formally adopting their children, it is in the best interest of children to give them the same protections they'd have with two legal parents, attorneys for some of the women and California's attorney general argued.

Their solution: apply long-standing laws -- crafted to hold absent fathers accountable and protect children from the stigma of illegitimacy -- to estranged gay and lesbian couples who use reproductive science to conceive, leaving one partner without a genetic link to the family.

(snip)

On the other side are two women seeking to retain sole custody of their children and one who argues she shouldn't have to pay child support for her former lover's twins. Their lawyers warned that if someone without a biological, marital or adoption-related claim on a child can legally assert parental rights, it would open the door to all sorts of custody disputes.

(snip)

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2005/05/25/news/state/18_30_255_24_05.txt

[msanthrope]

1. I wrote an appellate brief for a law school course on this issue.

The CA court will have to goosestep to recognize a right for same-sex, non-genetic parents without opening the door to "any interested party" filing a parentage action.

I suggested that the court use the standard of Johnson v. Calvert--if you intended to make/have/create this child, then regardless of your marital status, sexual preference, or gentic link, you are responsible for this child, and are its parent. Which means, pay the support.