Adoption and Parenting

(Norman, Oklahoma, September 15, 2004) — In a federal lawsuit filed today, Lambda Legal seeks to overturn a law so extreme that it may leave children adopted by same-sex couples in other states orphans in the eyes of the law when the families are in the state of Oklahoma.

Lambda Legal represents same-sex couples who adopted children while living in other states and later moved to Oklahoma with their children or want to visit the state with their family.

(Richmond, VA, October 25, 2004) - Lambda Legal today filed a brief in the Virginia Supreme Court seeking birth certificates for children who were born in Virginia and adopted by same-sex couples out of state. A lower court refused to order state officials to issue birth certificates that accurately reflect both legal parents.

(Oklahoma City, December 8, 2004) – In an order made public late yesterday, a federal judge gave the green light to Lambda Legal’s lawsuit that seeks to strike down Oklahoma’s antigay adoption law.

U. S. District Judge Robin Cauthron found that the lawsuit filed against Oklahoma’s Governor Brad Henry and Attorney General Drew Edmondson can go forward. The state had asked the court to dismiss the case.

(Washington, January 10, 2005) — Lambda Legal issued the following statement today on the U.S. Supreme Court declining to hear a case challenging Florida's ban on gay people adopting children. The case challenging the Florida law was filed by the ACLU; Lambda Legal filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case at the federal appeals court. The statement is from Patricia Logue, Senior Counsel at Lambda Legal.

(Los Angeles, June 3, 2005) — In legal papers filed today Lambda Legal urged a California state appeals court to reject the half truths put forth in a friend-of-the-court brief by the California Medical Association that would allow doctors to discriminate against patients based on the doctors’ religious views. The case at hand involves a woman who was denied fertility treatment by her Southern California health care providers because she is a lesbian.

(Chicago, January 21, 2005) -- Lambda Legal issued the following statement on the Illinois State Supreme Court's unanimous ruling today that reinforces that the best interests of children, not sexual orientation, control foster placement, adoption and all parenting decisions in Illinois.

(Annapolis, MD) — Lambda Legal and the National Center for Lesbian Rights filed a brief today in the Maryland Court of Special Appeals seeking to remove a custody restriction on behalf of a gay father who is barred from living with his partner while raising his 12-year-old son.

(Pittsburg, February 3, 2005) — Lambda Legal will go back to the Pennsylvania Superior Court on Tuesday, February 8, at 1:00 p.m. to argue that a lower court was wrong to deny a lesbian mother visitation with her child after her ex-partner (the child’s biological mother) worked to alienate the child from her.

(NEW YORK, January 7, 2000) — The United States Supreme Court, which rarely hears matters of family law, should reject extreme positions on all sides of a Washington visitation case with potential implications for lesbian and gay families, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund said Friday.

(NEW YORK, December 28, 1999) —With the new year, momentum toward fairness and equality for lesbians, gay men, and people with HIV has never been greater, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund said, pointing to major developments that include its unprecedented role before the United States Supreme Court.