Ohio Gay Marriage Amendment Could Void Parent Rights
Ohio Gay Marriage Amendment Could Void Parent Rights
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: February 25, 2005 5:01 pm. ET
(Columbus, Ohio) Ohio's constitutional amendment which bars same-sex marriage is being used to prevent a lesbian mom from seeing her eight-year old son.
The argument is the centerpiece of a legal dispute between the boy's birth mother and her former partner.
In addition to banning same-sex marriage the amendment, known as Issue 1, says the state "and its political subdivisions shall not create or recognize a legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals that intends to approximate the design, qualities, significance or effect of marriage."
Denise Fairchild argues that extends to adoption.
Fairchild had the boy by artificial insemination when she and Therese Leach were a couple and the two women cared for the child.
At Fairchild's request, the Franklin County Domestic Relations Court gave Leach parenting rights in 2001, saying the women "shall be treated in the law as two equal parents of their minor child."
When the couple broke up Fairchild refused to allow Leach visitation rights and Leach went to court.
Fairchild argues that the agreement is not valid because it was written before a 2002 Ohio Supreme Court decision giving the domestic relations court the power to determine custody.
The suit further says that the women could not be treated as equal parents because of the constitutional amendment passed by voters last November.
Fairchild says she is aware she is trying to use an anti-gay law for her own ends and admits she voted against the ballot issue.
"I realize I am using a piece of legislation that will deny me rights later in my life. But before I am a lesbian and a member of the gay community, I am his mother," she told the Associated Press.
Lawyers for unmarried heterosexual couples are also trying to use the amendment in legal actions. Earlier this month a Cleveland judge refused to consider the argument in a case involving domestic abuse.
©365Gay.com 2005
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: February 25, 2005 5:01 pm. ET
(Columbus, Ohio) Ohio's constitutional amendment which bars same-sex marriage is being used to prevent a lesbian mom from seeing her eight-year old son.
The argument is the centerpiece of a legal dispute between the boy's birth mother and her former partner.
In addition to banning same-sex marriage the amendment, known as Issue 1, says the state "and its political subdivisions shall not create or recognize a legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals that intends to approximate the design, qualities, significance or effect of marriage."
Denise Fairchild argues that extends to adoption.
Fairchild had the boy by artificial insemination when she and Therese Leach were a couple and the two women cared for the child.
At Fairchild's request, the Franklin County Domestic Relations Court gave Leach parenting rights in 2001, saying the women "shall be treated in the law as two equal parents of their minor child."
When the couple broke up Fairchild refused to allow Leach visitation rights and Leach went to court.
Fairchild argues that the agreement is not valid because it was written before a 2002 Ohio Supreme Court decision giving the domestic relations court the power to determine custody.
The suit further says that the women could not be treated as equal parents because of the constitutional amendment passed by voters last November.
Fairchild says she is aware she is trying to use an anti-gay law for her own ends and admits she voted against the ballot issue.
"I realize I am using a piece of legislation that will deny me rights later in my life. But before I am a lesbian and a member of the gay community, I am his mother," she told the Associated Press.
Lawyers for unmarried heterosexual couples are also trying to use the amendment in legal actions. Earlier this month a Cleveland judge refused to consider the argument in a case involving domestic abuse.
©365Gay.com 2005
posted by JimG at 11:39 PM
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