A quick run through some news on lesbian and gay parents

Again, my apologies for the lengthy silence.  First I was travelling and in my travels, I managed to contract the H1N1 flu.  I’m prepared to affirm that it is a nasty bug.   I am not yet out of quarantine, but at least I am feeling human again.  

A couple of recent items on lesbian and gay parents.  (I actually think there were more than two, but I’ve lost track.) 

First, here’s a current item from France.   France permits single people to adopt, including single lesbians and gay men, does not permit lesbian and gay couples to adopt.   The rationale?   The absence of a different sex role model in a lesbian or gay couple.  

Restricting Access to ART: One View on Ethics

There’s been a lot of discussion on my blog about donor insemination, and particularly the use of anonymous donors.   I’m ready to take this is a broader direction.  I’ll start with this short post. 

 This morning I came across this document, which provides ethical guidance to ART (that’s assisted reproductive technology)   professionals.    (DI is is one facet of ART.)   It was developed by the ASRM(American Society for Reproductive Medicine).  While it doesn’t address the issue of anonymous donors, it is focused on the use of ART by people who will frequently be using anonymous donors.    

It’s not particularly new (2006) but it is interesting to me the way the discussion is organized.  As the title makes clear, this paper is addressed to the use of ART by lesbian, gay or unmarried people.   The question posed is whether it is permissible to discriminate in the provision of ART–that is, to provide it to (heterosexual) married couples, but not to unmarried couples or single people.  

Comparing and Contrasting, II

While I’m thinking about comparing approaches, (and still writing off-line) I am going to expand on the discussion of the difference between the DC statutory parentage test I’ve been discussing and the similar test announced by an Oregon court right around the same time.  I want to focus on one particular difference between the two approaches, one that I think is worth considering.  

On the surface, the two approaches are similar, and in many instances they’ll operate identically.   If a lesbian couple decides to have a child using ART, both DC and Oregon will recognize that both women are parents from the moment the child is born—one by virtue of having given birth and the other by virtue of having been a part of the project that resulted in the birth. 

Lesbian Mothers in Louisiana

Yesterday I wrote about how courts are sometimes more inclined to respond to the individual equity claims of lesbian families than legislatures might be.   But alas, the key word there is “sometimes.”   Courts are not always affirming.   It’s probably not surprising that this seems to be particularly true when the challenge to a lesbian family comes from within that family.  

There is yet another case that I am sorry to say is an of a lesbian refusing to recognize the relationship between her former partner and their child.   (I’m sorry to say that I’ve commented on many similar cases in the past year-and-a-half.  Here’s one, and many of them are collected under the tag “second-parent.)  This case was brought in Lousiana, and given the response of Louisiana in the birth certificate case, the opinion probably shouldn’t be surprising.  

Louisiana Birth Certificate Update

The process of legislation is indeed long, but the Louisiana birth certificate legislation I’ve been following is nearing the end of that road.   a brief recap, to bring you up to speed. 

This story begins when a gay male couple adopted a child who happened to have been born in Louisiana.   Oren Adar and Mickey Ray Smith completed their adoption in New York, which permits two men to adopt a child.  Having finished the procedure they were, in the eyes of the law, the legal parents of their son.   Because of the Full Faith and Credit Clause, that status–gained via a court order–must be recognized by other states.   (A recent opinion from Florida confirms this.) 

Adar and Smith want a new birth certificate for their child, one that reflects their status as legal parents.   This is an ordinary post-adoption request.  Since the child was born in Louisiana, the new birth certificate would have to be issued in Louisiana.   Louisiana undoubtedly does this routinely in most cases. 

But while Louisiana is obliged to recognize the adoption, it would not itself permit two men to adopt. 

One Picture Instead of 1000 Words

Okay, so I never actually post 1000 words at a time.   One picture instead of 400-600 words would be more accurate.   And really, one picture and then a bunch of words, too.

Yesterday the Washington State Governor signed the new domestic partner bill.   Here’s a picture is from event.   You can also read about it, of course.

I’ll assume you have gone and looked at the picture.  What’s the most striking thing about it? Surely it’s all the kids.  If you didn’t know and I showed you that and said it was a bill signing, wouldn’t you think it was a children’s health care bill, or maybe something about elementary education?   

More on Louisiana Birth Certificate

As I discussed yesterday, the Louisiana legislature is considering a bill (HB 60) that would prohibit Louisiana from issuing a birth certificate listing anyone not qualified to adopt in Louisiana as a parent.   The impetus for this effort is a law suit by two gay men who have jointly adopted a child in New York State.

The adoption is perfectly proper under New York law, but the child in question was born in Louisiana.  Therefore, the new parents sought a new birth certificate from Louisiana listing their names.

The thing is, in Louisiana only a married couple or a single person can adopt.  No unmarried couples.  And no same-sex couples can be married, in the view of Louisiana.  (The Constitution of the state restricts marriage to one man/one woman and out of state marriages that do not comport with this arrangement are not recognized.)  Hence, the two men are not qualified under Louisiana law to adopt as a couple.

Lots that’s interesting here and much of it I’ve already discussed.  I remain fascinated by a scheme that allows single people (including lesbians and gay men) to adopt, but prohibits couples from adopting unless they are married.

Louisiana Birth Certificate Update

There’s a Louisiana case I’ve been following in which two gay men who had properly adopted a child in New York wanted a birth certificate that listed both of their names.   The problem is that the child was born in Louisiana and Louisiana would not have allowed the two men to adopt.   Since the child was born in Louisiana, only Louisiana could issue a birth certificate.

As that earlier post recounts, the men have had success in court, although the order in their favor was stayed.   The lawyer for the state suggested at that time that he’d seek legislation on the matter.

Well, here’s the legislation.   It’s HB 60 and it had a committee hearing in the Louisiana legislature today.   (I cannot tell what happened at the hearing–perhaps it isn’t posted yet.)   The bill provides that the state will not issue a birth certificate to an adoptive couple unless the couple would have qualified for adoption in Louisiana.

Gay Fathers and Lesbian Mothers–Sameness and Difference

If you look back over the past several weeks, you’ll notice that many of my posts are about legal matters related to gay fathers or lesbian mothers.   (You’ll find them if you use the tags.) That’s not surprising.   As I’ve noted, lesbian and gay parents have become a visible center of the broader struggle around lesbian and gay rights generally, and lots of these struggles get worked out either in the courts or the legislature.

In many ways, lesbian mothers and gay fathers have much in common.    Anti-same-sex parenting campaigns rarely if ever distinguish between them.  For example, proposed statutory restrictions bar all unmarried couples–including both lesbian couples and gay couples as well as unmarried heterosexual couples–from adoption.   Lesbian mothers and gay fathers, and perhaps especially lesbian and gay couples who are parenting, are seen to threaten the fundamental gendered dynamic of parenting.   Lesbian and gay parents don’t offer children the proper gendered model of the world.

But even as lesbian and gay parents may challenge gendered practices, lesbian and gay parents also live in a highly gendered world.  As I’ve noted before, there are some real differences between men and women with regard to the process by which children are brought into the world.   I mean, of course, that women are pregnant and give birth while men (with a very small number of exceptions) do not.   Beyond that, while the individual day-to-day performances of male and female parents vary widely, the idea of “mother” is quite distinct from the idea of “father.”   

Are Married Parents Better, II

I’m picking this up from earlier in the week–you might want to start reading here or even a little further back.    Access to marriage for same-sex couples continues to be headline news.   Since I last wrote, the Vermont legislature has overridden the governor’s veto of the marriage access bill.  This makes Vermont the fourth state (the others being Massachusetts, Connecticut and Iowa) that will be permitting same-sex couples to marry and the first to do so via legislative rather than court action.

My main project in this thread is to examine the ways in which parenthood and marriage have become intertwined.   In particular, arguments both for and against access to marriage rely on varying assertions about children and parents and families.

To pick up the particular piece of this puzzle I started with, last time I asserted that there was a wide-spread sentiment that stability is good for children.   From here, you can go one of two directions.   I’ll consider one today and the second another time.

Those who support access to marriage for same sex couples note that same sex couples are already raising kids.   (And here some statistics are usually noted about exactly how many children are being raised by same-sex couples.)   Marriage is said to stabilize relationships.   Thus, the reasoning goes, children are better off if their parents are married.