Adoption and Parenting

(Richmond, VA, November 28, 2006) — Today, the Virginia Court of Appeals unanimously ruled that the Commonwealth of Virginia has no say in a custody dispute that began in Vermont between Janet Jenkins and her former partner Lisa Miller.

(Philadelphia, November 29, 2006) — The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania let stand a lower court ruling awarding custody to Patricia Jones (a lesbian mother) because she would provide a better home than her ex-partner, Ellen Boring (the children's biological parent).

(NEW YORK, September 4, 1997) -- A divorced father is seeking to overturn a Maryland court order that severely restricts his visits with his two young children solely because he is gay, Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund said. He will challenge that order at a hearing on Friday.

Argument in Boswell v. Boswell is set for 9 a.m., Friday, September 5, at the Court of Special Appeals, Courts of Appeals Building, Courtroom 1, Annapolis, Maryland.

(CHICAGO, June 20, 1997) -- An Ohio state appeals court declared that a gay father should not have lost custody of his son, ruling that sexual orientation has no significance in child custody decisions, said Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund Friday.

Patricia M. Logue, managing attorney for Lambda's Midwest Regional Office, represented the father, Herbert Inscoe, Sr., who has raised his 12-year-old son Herbie for most of his life.

(Franklin County, Ohio, January 25, 2007) — In a 12 page decision, Judge Carol Squire ruled that a custody arrangement between two lesbian parents is valid despite Ohio’s antigay constitutional amendment.

06/16/2009

"Eric and Sandy Kay Mongerson had four children during their 21-year marriage. But when the couple divorced in 2007, Fayette Superior Court Judge Christopher Edwards issued a blanket ban against the children having any contact with the father's gay partner or friends.

"In a unanimous decision, The Supreme Court of Georgia threw out Judge Edwards' decision, saying he wrongfully assumed the children would suffer harm.

2/20/2009

"Courts can oversee a custody dispute between lesbian parents who adopted in Illinois even though Michigan doesn't formally recognize gay relationships, the state Court of Appeals said in a decision released Friday.

"'My concern is the well?being of my children. I want them to live in a place where their rights are protected,' Giancaspro said in a statement released by the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan and the New York?based gay rights group Lambda Legal."

2/18/2009

"Lambda Legal filed an amicus brief in the Georgia Supreme Court Tuesday arguing that a restriction in a gay father's Fayette County child custody arrangement should be dismissed.

"Eric Mongerson, who took his case before the state's highest court in January, is challenging a clause which prohibits him from 'exposing his children to his homosexual partners and friends.'

12/28/2008

"In his ruling Monday, [U.S. District Judge Jay] Zainey said Louisiana's Office of Vital Records must give full faith and credit to the New York State court in which Adar and Smith adopted the boy, he ruled Monday. The office had refused to issue a birth certificate listing both as the boy's legal parents.

"'The facts are so clear that no trial is needed,' Zainey wrote.

7/1/2008

"A same-sex couple in New York says an Arizona-based Web site has barred them from posting an adoption profile.

"The advocacy group Lambda Legal said Tuesday it has complained to the New York attorney general's office about Adoption Profiles, LLC and Adoption Media, LLC.

"Lambda Legal says Rosario Gennaro and Alexander Gardner were certified by a court as qualified adoptive parents. But when they decided to seek an online match with ParentProfiles.com, they learned that applicants were required to be 'husband and wife.'"