This roundup takes us around the world, and also updates one of the longest running and most contentious custody cases involving same-sex parents.
Politics and Law: International
- Parents of any gender in Ontario who use assisted reproduction no longer have to adopt their own children, as the All Families Are Equal Act unanimously passed the Ontario legislature.
- An Ontario Superior Court justice last week ruled against a father who wanted advance notice from the public school board so he could remove his children from classes when they taught things that went against his values, including LGBTQ topics, sex ed, and “environmental worship.” Justice Robert B. Reid wrote that inclusion and equality comes before “individual religious accommodations in public education,” reported the CBC.
- Australian same-sex couples can adopt but not marry, a situation that has writer Oliver Jacques saying, “Huh?” The BBC has more about what’s holding up marriage equality Down Under
- The Japan Times gives us an overview of laws and attitudes regarding same-sex parents in Japan.
- A two-mom couple in Mexico has filed a complaint with the Consejo para Prevenir y Eliminar la Discriminación de la Ciudad de Mexico (Copred), after their children were turned away from three schools for having same-sex parents.
- Because of legal differences between the U.S. and U.K., many British male same-sex couples who want to start a family go to the U.S. to find a surrogate. Now that a Trump presidency has called into question U.S. policy regarding same-sex parents, says Robert McCaffrey at Gay Star News, “now would be a good time for the UK to reconsider its laws regarding surrogacy.”
Politics and Law: U.S.
- An Amish Mennonite missionary, Timothy Miller, pled guilty in federal court of helping a mother abduct her child from her other mother and flee to Nicaragua. The two women, Lisa Miller (no relation to Timothy) and Janet Jenkins, had a civil union in Vermont in 2000, and Miller gave birth to their daughter in 2002. They then broke up and Miller began to identify as a born-again Christian, saying she was no longer a lesbian. A Vermont court gave custody to Jenkins after Miller was ruled in contempt of court for not allowing Jenkins to have visitation. Miller and their daughter fled the country in 2009 rather than turn the girl over to Jenkins. Timothy Miller’s conviction is good news—but Jenkins and her daughter remain separated for more than seven years.
- An Idaho mom has filed a lawsuit saying that the state’s laws on assisted insemination discriminate against same-sex parents. Different-sex couples that use assisted insemination merely sign a form to establish legal parentage for the non-genetic parent, whereas same-sex couples must do a second-parent adoption.
Family Stories
- In honor of Scottish Adoption Week, Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, met with James and Neil Smith, the first same-sex couple who adopted in Scotland.
Celebrity News