Another landmark custody battle, this time in Ohio

[theHandpuppet]

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100209/NEWS010702/2100339/Woman++ex-partner+in+custody+battle
Woman seeks joint custody of child with former partner
By Kimball Perry • [e-mail] • February 9, 2010

Two Hamilton County women are locked in a legal battle that could impact parents across Ohio by giving custody rights to those who now aren't legally entitled to them.

The case's outcome could impact parental custody rights for gay couples, stepparents, grandparents or others seeking to become legal parents of children across the state.

Horatio Mihet, an attorney for Virginia-based pro-family advocacy group Liberty Counsel, warns the suit could result in an attack on rights of parents. He believes if lower court rulings are overturned, parents could lose some of their custody rights because of their actions - having a live-in partner, parent or nanny perform parenting acts - instead of legally giving those rights to another through court procedures.

Mihet's group filed a brief in the case siding with Kelly Mullen in her attempt to prevent her former partner, Michele Hobbs, from winning custody rights to a child Mullen gave birth to in 2005. Those supporting Mullen see the case as an attack on rights of biological parents.... MORE

[theHandpuppet]

1. Meanwhile, across the river in Kentucky

This was posted on the sidebar accompanying the article cited in the OP:

In Kentucky, elsewhere
In January, the Kentucky Supreme Court upheld a decision that same-sex couples can agree to joint custody in that state. It ruled a non-birth mother was a "de facto" parent and has custody rights to a boy born in 2005 that she and her female partner raised before their romantic relationship ended.

In addition to Kentucky, 17 other states recognize "de facto parents" over biological parents' objections: Indiana, Wisconsin, West Virginia, Washington, Rhode Island, Utah, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Minnesota, Maryland, Massachusetts, Maine, California, Colorado, Arizona, Arkansas.

Source: Associated Press

I thought I would add this here for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that as a resident of West Virginia and whose father was Kentucky-born, I get really tired of the insults and stereotypes of "hillbillies" so frequently used here on DU.