Janet Jenkins and her daughter Isabella in a 2004 file photo taken when Isabella was 2. She’ll be 6 in April. (Photo courtesy of Janet Jenkins)
La Clinica blames staffing, facility hurdles for trans program delays
Official says non-commercial ‘cruising’ not prosecuted
advertisement
advertisement
|
JOSHUA LYNSEN
Friday, March 21, 2008
A court ruling last week affirming child visitation rights for a Vermont lesbian is winning accolades from gay groups.
Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders, along with Lambda Legal, praised the Vermont Supreme Court decision giving Janet Jenkins access to the daughter she parented with Lisa Miller (the two used the surname Miller-Jenkins when they were together but have since legally returned to their previous last names).
“We’re delighted,” said Greg Nevins, a Lambda Legal senior staff attorney. “Although it’s not unexpected.”
“This is wonderful news for my daughter and myself,” Jenkins told the Blade in a phone interview Wednesday. “It’s very affirming.”
Lisa Miller of Winchester, Va., has lost almost every legal attempt to bar custody to her former partner since the two split in 2003, three years after they obtained a civil union in Vermont. Miller, whose number is unlisted, could not be reached for comment. She has declined previous invitations from the Blade to comment.
In April 2002, Miller gave birth to a girl who was conceived through artificial insemination. The three also moved to Vermont that year.
About a year later, Miller renounced her homosexuality, returned to Virginia and denied Jenkins access to Isabella, who continues to use the surname Miller-Jenkins and will turn 6 next month. The move triggered a protracted legal battle in two states that produced several rulings against Miller.
Jennifer Levi, a Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders attorney who represented Jenkins in Vermont, said last week’s decision from the Vermont Supreme Court effectively ends the case there.
“We won all the potential appeals in Vermont,” she said. “The ruling is on as solid ground as it can be in Vermont.”
The dispute next goes to the Virginia Supreme Court, which will decide whether Virginia must follow Vermont’s ruling.
Nevins, who’s helping represent Jenkins in Virginia, said he’s hopeful the Virginia justices will rule in the best interest of the child.
“Once you establish that a parent is a legal parent, you look at the child, and it’s almost always the case, it’s the principle of the law that favors contact between the child and the parents, the people who have raised the child,” he said. “The idea being that even if the two parents don’t get along anymore, it’s in the child’s interest that the parents that the child has come to know and love and come to depend upon should be part of the child’s life going forward.”
Trevor Thomas, a Human Rights Campaign spokesperson, agreed that the justices should rule in Isabella‘s best interests.
“We know that GLBT Americans are raising children very well in every state and in almost every county, in this country,” he said. “These children deserve to know that the courts will respect their relationships with their parents. No child should risk being considered a stranger to her parents if the parents move to a state that does not treat GLBT people equally.”
But an attorney for Miller told the Associated Press there are other factors to consider.
“It’s an important issue as to whether citizens from one state can have another state decide custody of their children that were not born in that state and where, as citizens of Virginia, they weren’t even entitled to enter into a civil union,” said David Corry, a lawyer with the Liberty Council.
Corry said he’s hopeful the U.S. Supreme Court will review the case.
The nation’s highest court previously declined to hear the case, though, and Nevins said any hopes that it could go there now amount to “wishful thinking.”
“There have already been attempts to get it to the U.S. Supreme Court that have failed, so that indicates how unlikely this is,” he said. “I’m not going to venture predictions, but just based on history, it certainly would seem very unlikely.”
Levi also noted an end to the protracted legal proceedings would be best for Isabella.
“There has been visitation between Janet and her daughter, and I think that the more this goes on and the further this couple gets from their breakup, the easier it will be to get their post-dissolution family relationships to develop,” she said. “That’s typical. That’s what we see in family courts all the time.”
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
|
 |
