January 29, 2010 By SCOTT JAMES – New York Times- When Rio and Ray married in 2008, the Bay Area women omitted two words from their wedding vows: fidelity and monogamy. “I take it as a gift that someone will be that open and honest and sharing with me,” said Rio, using the word “open” to describe their marriage. Love brought the middle-age couple together — they wed during California’s brief legal window for same-sex marriage. But...

Submitted by Jeff on Wed, 01/27/2010 – 2:41pm on ProudParenting.com Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Maria Sampedro-Iglesia has delivered the third ruling against Florida’s infamous adoption ban – allowing a lesbian couple to adopt an infant relative, the Miami Herald reports: “While the 1977 law remains in limbo, Sampedro-Iglesia’s ruling suggests some state court judges already have made up their minds about gay adoption,...

by Matthew E. Pilecki EDGE Contributor Monday Jan 18, 2010 When Sean Hollingsworth and his husband, Donald Robinson Hollingsworth, first held their twin daughters, neither foresaw the legal battle that would soon consume their lives. Due to a decision made by New Jersey Superior Court Judge Francis B. Schultz, the once-happy couple could lose primary custody of the twin girls they’ve raised over the past three years. Angelica Robinson, Donald...

Heterosexuals are protected by $40 license, but wills and legal safeguards for same-sex couples cost thousands By Rex W. Huppke Tribune reporter January 18, 2010 If Howard Wax and Robert Pooley Jr. were a heterosexual couple, they could’ve gone to their nearest Cook County clerk’s office, paid $40 for a marriage license and been wed. That would have provided them an array of legal protections — the right to make medical decisions...

Los Angeles Times January 15, 2010 | 12:23 pm A Cambridge University developmental psychologist testified at a federal trial in San Francisco today that broad research has documented that children of same-sex parents are just as likely as those of heterosexual parents to be well-adjusted. “Studies have found children do not require both a male and female parent,” testified Michael Lamb, who heads Cambridge’s Department of Social...

Scott and Amy Kehoe Call Surrogate’s Actions Legal ‘Kidnapping’ By JUJU CHANG, JENNIFER PEREIRA and SUZAN CLARKE Jan. 12, 2010 Scott and Amy Kehoe knew they wanted to be parents since the moment they married eight years ago. But after two miscarriages and five failed rounds of in vitro fertilization, they decided to seek out a surrogate. The Michigan couple bought donor eggs and sperm and Shelley Baker — an experienced...

by Kilian Melloy Monday Jan 11, 2010 A Canadian lesbian couple and the sperm donor who helped them conceive are in a feud over parental rights–and at the forefront of family law. Because Canadian law does not permit monetary exchange for sperm donations, all but one of the nation’s sperm banks have shut down. That leaves lesbian couples that wish to conceive on their own to find a donor, but when they solicit genetic material from friends,...

The Canadian Press – ONLINE EDITION By: The Associated Press, The Associated Press– 9/01/2010 SALT LAKE CITY – Rep. Christine Johnson will serve an additional role when the Utah Legislature convenes this month. The lesbian lawmaker announced she’s a surrogate mother, carrying a baby for two gay men. Johnson said she decided to become artificially impregnated with sperm from one of the men after the two close friends expressed...

Reproductive contracts and the best interests of children Reason.com, January 5, 2010 by Ronald Bailey The question of what it means to be a parent has never been simple. But three recent cases highlight just how complicated things can get—and how inconsistent the courts have been in weighing genetic parenthood against the deals struck by would-be parents (gay and straight) with their partners. Case 1: Sean Hollingsworth and Donald Robinson Hollingsworth...

January 2, 1:47 AMInternational LGBT Issues ExaminerKelvin Lynch Lisa Miller, an ‘ex-gay’ evangelical Christian who was in a lesbian relationship in Vermont for four years, has abducted the former couple’s 7-year-old daughter following a court order awarding sole custody to her former partner. Miller renounced being gay in 2004 and took the child, Isabella, from Vermont to Virginia.  A judge awarded her former partner, Janet Jenkins,...