from Wisconsin State Journal, via Feministing
A Wisconsin appeals court ruled Thursday that a woman who has raised her children since infancy has no legal rights as their parent. Wendy (identified only by her first name in court records) split with her partner after adopting two children and raising them as a stay-at-home parent. Because Wendy’s partner, Liz, legally adopted the children, Wendy now has no legal rights as their guardian. Her petition for guardianship was rejected by the court.
Under Wisconsin law, a parent is defined as a biological or adoptive parent, and a same-sex couple cannot adopt a child together. Therefore, of all the families in Wisconsin that consist of a same-sex couple with children, half of those parents receive absolutely no legal recognition.
Via the NY Daily News
It’s sad enough that Texas only overturned an archaic law banning sodomy in 2003. Now, in 2010, the Texas Republican Party has agreed to a platform that would not only bring back the sodomy ban, but criminalize gay marriage. Same-sex marriages are already invalid in Texas; the new measures would also give jail sentences to anyone who issues a marriage license to a same-sex couple, among other things.
The party argues that homosexuality “tears at the fabric of society, contributes to the breakdown of the family unit and leads to the spread of dangerous communicable diseases.” As for me, I still fail to see how the formation of loving, responsible, committed long-term relationships among people of the same gender contributes to any of these things… and I won’t be moving to Texas anytime soon.
