Wisconsin courts foil bio mom's attempt to overturn her partner's adoption of the children

Here is another "lesbian bio mom behaving badly" case, and another court --this time the Wisconsin Court of Appeals -- that does not let her get away with it.  (This case was decided in July, but I'm behind on some of my posts and I haven't seen it written about elsewhere).The case name is Shelly J. v. Leslie W. Lesbian couple, Shelley and Leslie, began their relationship in 1996 and decided to

European Court of Human Rights hears appeal of lesbian couple denied second-parent adoption in France

A French lesbian couple, denied a second-parent adoption of the daughter born to one of them using donor insemination, has taken their case to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). The couple, Nathalie Dubois and Valerie Gas, began living together in 1989, and their daughter, Alexandra, was born in 2000. Alexandra was conceived in Belgium because assisted reproduction is not available to a

Tennessee adoption ruling bodes ill for same-sex couple second parent adoption

Court rulings that affect same-sex couples raising children often come in the context of heterosexual families. When you think about it, that's inevitable, since there are so many more heterosexuals and they, too, live in a variety of family forms. Well, a decision from the Tennessee Court of Appeals last month, In re Shleby L.B., falls into this category, and the news is not good. (For a

Yes, the North Carolina adoption ruling really is that bad

Since my post on Tuesday about the North Carolina Supreme Court ruling in Boseman v. Jarrell that second-parent adoption is not authorized by the state's statutes, I've received numerous disbelieving emails. Everyone wants me to say it's really not all that bad. Everyone thinks there must be a way around what the court actually did. So I'm going to use this post to clarify the status of gay

Second-parent adoption no longer available in North Carolina, but nonbio mom can obtain custody; all previously granted adoptions void

The North Carolina Supreme Court ruled yesterday that second-parent adoption is not available in the state. Any such adoption previously granted is now void. The case was widely watched in North Carolina because, among other reasons, the nonbio mom, Julia Boseman, is the first openly gay member of the North Carolina General Assembly. (She did not seek reelection this year and leaves office at the

More conservative state supreme court judges could hurt LGBT family law

By now everyone knows that the three Iowa Supreme Court justices up for a retention election all lost their bids to remain on the court, the result of a coordinated, highly financed campaign to send a message against their vote for marriage equality. In a segment on Democracy Now this morning, Adam Skaggs of the Brennan Center for Justice puts the Iowa vote in the larger context of judicial

Puerto Rico Supreme Court considering second-parent adoption

Columbia Law School's Sexuality and Gender Law Clinic has filed a friend of the court brief in AAR, a case pending in the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico. The partner of a biological mom was denied a second-parent adoption, and the court will rule on whether same-sex second parent adoption is permissible in Puerto Rico.The brief is unique (and not only because it was filed in both English and

North Carolina upholds second-parent adoption!

The South is the region with the worst laws in the country for gay and lesbian parents. Well today add North Carolina to the list of states that approve second-parent adoption.Today's decision from the North Carolina Court of Appeals came in the case of Boseman v. Jarrell. Pretty straightforward facts: Julia Boseman and Melissa Jarrell had been together four years when, in 2002, Melissa gave