California’s Supreme Court has ruled that lesbian partners who cooperate to bear children are obligated to pay child support and share custody when they break up just like regular parents:
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – Same-sex couples who raise children are lawful parents, and just like heterosexual couples, they must provide for their children if they break up, the California Supreme Court ruled Monday.
The justices ruled for the first time that custody and child support laws that hold absent fathers accountable also apply to estranged gay and lesbian couples who used reproductive science to conceive.
Ruling in three different lesbian parenting cases, the court continued to recognize the rights of same-sex couples.
Gay rights advocates see this as a major victory for the recognition of same-sex partnerships, but it’s not going to met with widespread joy and happiness by actual lesbians. Each of the tree cases the justices took on featured two contending (lesbian) parties, in both combinations. One case featured a bio-mom who wanted child support from the non-bio-mom, and another case featured a non-bio-mom who wanted custody rights, which means she’s on the hook for child support.
Conservative groups are upset, but their anger is probably misguided:
“You’ve essentially begun to undermine and unravel the family,” said Mathew D. Staver of Liberty Counsel, which submitted supporting briefs arguing against recognition of two same-sex parents.
This is misguided because the courts are simply dealing with situations that happen in the real world, and they’re not in a position to force lesbians to go straight or to turn back the clock on reproductive technologies.
These cases establish a parental right that the legislature has been unable to establish in statute, despite many attempts at passing a “de-facto parent” law that would have assigned parental rights on a behavioral basis. The “de-facto parent” bill carried by John Vasconcellos several times in the past had problems with the rights of a biological father who may or may not have been in the picture, but this ruling appears to be much more narrow, focused on sperm donation cases where the biological father is without parental rights as a matter of law.
The effect of the these rulings is simply to invite more people in the world of child support and custody disputes, a wonderful place for Californians.
As a veteran of that world, let me be among the first to welcome these lesbian moms to the fold and to encourage them to lobby for a bit of justice. Bio-moms are still going to be considered more equal than others, but it’s up to you to change that and see to it that the law provides for full equality, not just standing to support your ex-partner’s preferred lifestyle while you struggle with token bits of visitation. I hope the fathers’ rights people welcome you, because if I were still active in that struggle I certainly would.
UPDATE: Rough and Tumble has a google of links on this subject, just scroll down.