Don’t worry, there’s more than just custody cases here. We’ve got good news from France, a couple of long pieces exploring the legal and political status of LGBT parents today, some family stories, and a great ad campaign.
Politics and Law
- The Florida Supreme Court ruled that a woman who donated an egg to her partner in order to start their family has parental rights to the child and may seek custody and visitation now that the couple has separated. This one feels personal to me, even though I don’t live in Florida — my spouse and I created our family this way, and I can’t imagine the pain of being told my genetic son was not my child.
- The Indiana Court of Appeals told a lower court it must allow a nonbiological mother to seek visitation with the child she was raising with her former partner. Lawyer Nancy Polikoff has the legal nitty gritty, noting that although the decision seemingly went in the nonbio mom’s favor, she was still left “with the option of seeking only visitation.”
- The IndyStar also reports on the case, along with a long look at how the state’s laws need to be changed to better protect the children of same-sex and other non-traditional families. They even note, “In some cases, including the one that prompted the appellate decision, local judges have ruled that they do not have the latitude to even take a child’s best interest into account.” Go back and read that last sentence again. Yeah.
- Two women in France became the first same-sex couple in the country to do a second-parent adoption, reports Le Monde. (In French, but you can run it through Google Translate if necessary.) Unlike different-sex married couples, however, a same-sex spouse is still not presumed to be the parent of a child born to the other.
Political Roundups
(If you just can’t get enough.)
- Steven Thrasher at BuzzFeed takes a surprisingly (for BuzzFeed) GIF-free look at “How Unjust Family Laws Are Keeping LGBT Parents Away From Their Children.”
- ABC News has a similar lengthy look at some of the legal obstacles we face, with a focus on adoption.
Family Profiles
- Vikki Reich of Up Popped a Fox has a piece in Autostraddle’s “True Stories from Unstoppably Extraordinary Lesbian Moms” series about coming out to her mother and how becoming a parent herself changed their relationship. (My own contribution to the series is here.)
- Cheryl Dumesnil has a lovely piece at HuffPo explaining how she answered her son’s question, “Mom, Is ‘Gay’ a Bad Word?“
- Gay dad Richard Alther writes at HuffPo about coming out to his daughter.
Media
- An ad campaign from the U.K.’s baby-gear chain, Mamas and Papas, which featured same-sex, single, and different-sex parents, won “Advert of the Year” at the Stonewall Awards.
- PolicyMic reports that millenials love same-sex parents. Phew.