Here's a case where two lesbians have a child via a turkey
baster. Now the biological mom decides she's not a lesbian any more,
and wants to deny custody rights from the other lesbian.
Wouldn't you want to be this 6 yr old girl?
Vermont Judge Issues Stern Warning In Lesbian Child Custody Battle
Tagged with:
child custody child support Civil union ex-partners Judge William Cohen Supreme Court Vermont Virginia visitation
A Vermont Family Court Judge has issued a stern warning to Lisa Miller of
Winchester, Virginia telling her that she risked losing custody of her child if she continued to violate the court order granting Miller’s ex-partner Janet Jenkins of
Fair Haven, VT visitation rights.
This has been a long and often bitter custody battle that all began when the couples child, Isabel, was conceived by Miller via artificial insemination while they were both living in
Vermont and in a formalized civil union relationship.
When the couple broke up, a
Vermont Court granted Jenkins visitation, and awarded Miller child support payments from Jenkins.
However, Miller soon fled to her home state of Virginia and declared that she was no longer a lesbian. She then engaged the Conservative Christian law firm,
The Liberty Council, to attempt to deny her partners the visitation right awarded to her by the Vermont Court by demanding sole custody in a Virginia court.
Virginia does not recognize
civil unions and has some of the most anti-homosexual laws in the country. The Liberty Council argued that because civil unions were not recognized in Virginia, therefore the Vermont court ruling had no of authority in the State of Virgina. Jenkins attorney argued however that the courts in Vermont had already ruled on the issue and that the Vermont Court had sole jurisdiction of the case.
In 2007, Virginia’s Supreme Court sided with Jenkins and the Vermont courts.
After that ruling Miller and the Liberty Council then appealed to the
US Supreme Court, which declined to hear the case.
The Liberty Council returned to the Virginia Circuit Courts to halt the visitation order, but the judge in that case stated that Virginia’s Supreme Court had already ruled.
The Liberty Council then again appealed to the Virginia’s Supreme Court. A Virginia Supreme Court Justice however cited the Parental Kidnap Prevention Act, which requires courts in other states to adhere to pre-existing custody and visitation awards and is meant to prevent just this kind of “Justice Shopping” and refused to hear the case, again giving sole jurisdiction to Vermont.
On January 28th, the case was returned to Vermont, where Vermont Judge William Cohen allowed Miller to retain custody, but ordered unsupervised visitation to Jenkins for four days in March, over the Memorial Day holiday and for five weeks in this summer.
Judge Cohen also warned that the custody issue may be revisited if Miller continues refuses to allow Jenkins visitation after his ruling.