Jason Hanna And Joe Riggs, Texas Gay Fathers, Denied Legal Parenthood Of Twin Sons

[TexasTowelie]

It’s heartbreaking to think that a state has erased the parents of children and put a family in legal jeopardy, simply because of discrimination against gay and lesbian couples. But that’s what happened to a gay couple in Texas after what they described as the "magical" birth of their twin boys.

Jason Hanna and Joe Riggs are the proud fathers of Lucas and Ethan, who were born in April, after they'd connected with a surrogate mom, CharLynn.

Each of the men is a biological father to one of the babies. But, because Texas has a ban on gay marriage (it was ruled unconstitutional by a federal judge last February, but the decision was stayed pending appeal), and because a judge can use his or her own discretion in these cases, neither of the men is currently on the birth certificates of either of the boys, nor have they been able to co-adopt each other’s biological child.

Only the surrogate mother — who has no biological relationship to the boys, since embryos were transferred to her — is on the birth certificates. In essence, the men are not legally defined as the parents of their own children. And though they have DNA tests for proof, they’re worried, particularly if something were to happen to one of them while the other still has not been able to co-adopt the other’s biological child.

More at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/18/jason-hanna-and-joe-riggs_n_5506720.html

Cross-posted in the LGBT Group.

[Sienna86]

1. This is shameful.

I hope this family finds recourse in the courts.

[Rstrstx]

2. Can't believe I missed this story yesterday

All the articles floating around the internet the past two days leave out a lot of details. Jason and Joe have been at this a long time and even set up a fundraiser to help them have their two children last year, that website is at:

http://www.youcaring.com/adoption-fundraiser/jason-and-joe-s-baby-fund/57713

They managed to raise $11,500, not bad but still short of their goal of 25K and well short of the overall costs (the fund closed 19 days ago, I hope they'll set up a separate one for legal expenses). On that sight it states an anonymous 22-year old woman from South Texas was the egg donor, so that answers the question of whether we know who the biological mother is. It's disheartening to read their website, which is very optimistic and upbeat, all the while knowing how the story currently stands.

Another question I wanted to know is who the judge is. When I saw they lived in Dallas I was fairly surprised, as the Republican judges have been pretty much swept out of the county and I was ready to pounce on any Democrat who arrived at a ruling like this until I discovered it was heard by a judge in Tarrant County who is (wait for it...) a conservative Republican with a strict interpretation of the law according to her website (I'm assuming they had to have her as a judge since nobody in their right mind would have chosen her in a case like this). Since none of the articles mentioned the judge's name I'm going to assume the fathers didn't want her name listed so I won't post it; still, if you absolutely have to know, you can find it by reading the comments of this article:

http://frontburner.dmagazine.com/2014/06/18/jason-hanna-and-joe-riggs-a-gay-couple-cant-be-the-father-of-their-own-children/

There are also some comments in the Huffington Post article that suggested the biological fathers refused to sign the birth certificates unless they were both allowed to be listed as parents. I can't find anything to that back that claim up, maybe I've missed something.

So at the end of the day we have two children whose only parent according to the state is the woman who carried them but is not the biological mother (nobody knows who is). It is beyond shameful that the judge did know, however, who the biological father(s) were for both children yet she ignored it. It could have been the way the petition was worded but I really doubt it given the judge's philosophy and the fact that judges have discretion with these kinds of cases.

I'm sure we'll be hearing more about the case.