Vermont custody dispute highlights legal consequences of same-sex unions

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Comments: 11

Isabella and Lisa Miller

Alexandria, Va., Jan 5, 2010 / 06:13 am (CNA).- In a case showing some ramifications of the legal recognition of same-sex unions, a Virginia woman has disobeyed a Vermont court order to turn over sole custody of her biological daughter to her former lesbian partner.

Lisa Miller conceived and gave birth to her daughter Isabella through artificial insemination in 2002 while living in a same-sex civil union with Janet Jenkins in Vermont. Miller left Jenkins and homosexual practice a year later and converted to an evangelical form of Christianity, the New York Times reports.

Jenkins brought a legal action seeking custody of Isabella in a Vermont court, claiming that the Vermont homosexual civil union law guarantees her parental rights.

Judge William D. Cohen of the Vermont Family Court granted significant visitation rights to Jenkins when he dissolved their union. He awarded custody to Jenkins on Nov. 20, 2009 after finding Miller in contempt of court for denying access to Isabella.

Miller has claimed that Isabella has shown signs of “violent reactions” to previous court-ordered visitations with Jenkins. She alleges that Isabella has complained that Jenkins forced her to bathe naked together.

"I do not feel safe leaving my daughter with her, and I believe I have a God-given and constitutional right to raise my child as I see fit," Miller has told Newsweek. "There is a homosexual agenda at work here, and Isabella is a pawn in their game.”

Supporters of Jenkins include the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the homosexual activist group Lambda Legal Defense Fund.

The legal advocacy group Liberty Council, which represents Miller, claims that for the last five years, Jenkins “has neither attempted to phone nor write Isabella. She has never sent Isabella a card of any kind for any occasion.”

Moreover, the Liberty Council said in a December 2009 statement, Jenkins “has refused to attend Isabella’s Christmas plays, because she does not want to be around a Christian environment. She has also said that it is not in Isabella’s best interest to be raised in a Christian home.”

Miller’s attorney, Liberty Council founder Mathew Staver, has argued that Virginia law holds same-sex unions and any right created by such unions are void and unenforceable in the state.

“The legislature and the people have spoken clearly and with one voice on this issue. The future of Isabella is literally being weighed in a balance between two states,” he said, according to the Christian Post.

Other commentators were critical of Judge Cohen.

Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America, said he showed “little understanding of the case or sensitivity to children.”

“He claimed the change in parental custody, which includes moving to a new home, school, and state to live with a virtual stranger, would cause some disruption for Isabella but would not be out of the norm for a child,” she commented.

In a Monday e-mail to CNA, Maggie Gallagher, president of the National Organization for Marriage, made general comments about the case.

"I have sympathy for the pre-eminent claims of natural parents versus legal parents, when the natural mother is a fit parent (which nobody has denied in this case). But we have to be a nation ruled by laws, even when those laws may be unjust.

“Let this act as a warning call: Don't enter civil unions with people if you do not want to give them legal rights over your children. And do not give much faith in the ‘best interest of the child’ standard to protect your child. If the best interest of the child conflicts with fashionable legal norms, courts will not care what is in your child's best interest.

“It cannot be in Lisa's daughter's interest to be forcibly moved to Vermont away from the only mother she has ever known. This case is a tragedy all around. I cannot endorse what Lisa Miller has done, but I understand it, and pity both women and most of all this child. I wish Lisa's partner had the wisdom of Solomon, but I cannot blame her either," Gallagher told CNA.

Comments: 11

Subscriber comments:

Published by: Sean
Woodbridge 01/08/2010 11:24 PM EST

re: DougInSanDiego . I'm a gay man helping raise my niece in the absense of her heterosexual father. I don't think it's very fair for you to say that the homosexual community holds contempt for children. I think I'm loving and by offering her some sort of father figure and giving her mother free childcare while she works, I'm helping keep her safe and healthy. You should be ashamed for painting people like myself in such broad strokes.

Published by: Belen
Argentina 01/06/2010 09:20 PM EST

If i were her, i would try to leave the country. She should try to escape with her daughter to countries like Russia or China, which don't have an extradition treaty. I know it's hard but it seems like the only solution. Anyway, I'll keep her and her daughter in my prayers

Published by: Patrick
Austin, TX 01/06/2010 06:15 PM EST

The laws would have treated a married heterosexual couple exactly the same way meaning heterosexual unions also have legal consequences. Here is a simple question. If a man and woman are married and decide to have a baby together with artificial insemination via a donor, does that mean the man is not the father? Of course not. They had the baby together while married meaning both man and woman are considered parents. This case is not different. It seems some believe the laws only apply to heterosexual couples. Sounds a bit homophobic to me.

Published by: Tsepho
Charlotte 01/06/2010 08:07 AM EST

Catholic mom, you say that you fully support the child's right to have both parents in their life- which I agree with. But how can you call Jenkins a parent??? A child cannot be conceived without a mother and a father- period. It is natural law. So why has no one ever mentioned the father who donated to this clinic? No matter how hard people wish otherwise, and how much laws (and media) try to convey otherwise, this biological fact cannot be denied. People have entirely lost their common sense. The Church's teaching on marriage and sexuality is liberating- offering people true joy and peace. By not observing it, stories like this happen.

Published by: Manuel
Wauwatosa, WI. 01/06/2010 12:54 AM EST

Maggie Gallager raises a crucial question which transcends the facts of this case, that being: Can a law be unjust? Are this not contradictory terms? Now in the supposition that a law be unjust, are we obliged to follow it, or on the contrary moraly obliged to disobey it?

Published by: HOPE F.
VA/USA 01/05/2010 06:45 PM EST

Why should a child born of a woman who loves and is taking good care of that child, be given to another woman who has NO biological rights to that child? WHAT common sense is there in this?? Oh, the idiocy of same sex "marriage"!

Published by: DougInSanDiego
San Diego 01/05/2010 06:44 PM EST

I have been horrified by this situation, by this activist Judge, and by the shallow contempt the gay community holds for humans (even children). As a father who lost his only daughter to parental alienation, I am more sensitive to this than is anyone else here. But, this is NOT what is happening between Lisa Miller and Janet Jenkins. Keep in mind: Jenkins is a self inflicted stranger to little Lisa. The child was not 'taken and concealed'; why, Jenkins even helped drive the moving truck from Vermont to Virginia when the 2 adults broke up. Thereafter, Jenkins more often than not "missed" visitation opportunities, NEVER telephoned to speak with Lisa, NEVER attempted any contact by mail - heck, never attempted contact. Even Jenkins' PARENTS were more interested in the child than was Janet. The only activity Jenkins undertook regarding Isabella was to file for control via the activist court. Lisa has now escaped the dreary misery of her former existance and is in Christ. She desires a good and holy life for her child. She recognizes attempts from Janet to indoctrinate the child into the sad world Lisa has left behind and will do anything to shield her child from that. And some find this "bad" ??? The "bad" here is that a liberal activist Judge would betray his position, side with the gay activists, and seek activist success without regard to the destruction imposed on an innocent child. Shame on the Judge, on Janet Jenkins, and on the gay activists.

Published by: Raymond Peringer
Toronto Canada 01/05/2010 02:48 PM EST

Judge Cohen awarded custody to a non-biological person because the true parent disobeyed a court order. In other words, law supersedes the welfare of the child. Yet another example why one should never rely on the law to do the right thing.

Published by: Andrew Nelson
Columbia, SC USA 01/05/2010 02:46 PM EST

Catholic Mom, Your statement clearly shows your bias. What about the lesbian not wanting to have the daughter raised in a Christain home? And if we look deeper, the problem is deeper than just parental rights. This is why the Catholic Church is correct in defending marriage between one man & one woman. Also, it shows why the Catholic Church is correct in defending natural conception within the confines of marriage. Why, because look at the consequences of the selfish actions of so many adults when it comes to artificial insemination along with divorce. It is all about making the adult happy with little regards for the children. Pride is destroying our nation. We put ourselves above God & the kids. We will reap what we sow with our culture of death.

Published by: Grandmother of 14
Sterling Heights, MI USA 01/05/2010 02:16 PM EST

Catholic Mom, did you miss the part about Jenkins bathing with this little girl? Also did you miss the part about the child being violently upset? There is great danger here to a little girl, and our system insists on placing her, unprotected and alone, right in the midst of it. How long O Lord, how long?

Published by: Catholic Mom
DuPage Cty, IL 01/05/2010 12:48 PM EST

Rate: Regular

Sadly, this happens in family court all the time. One parent wishes to alienate a child from the other parent. This is not a gay rights issue, this is not a religious issue, this is simply a vindictive mother who is using the 'religion' card to alienate her daughter from the childs other mommy. Jenkins has not been involved in her daughters life because she was denied access. The correct term for this is visitation interference. I fully support a childs right to have BOTH parents in their life. In this case, through no choice of her own, this child and parent have been denied access to each other. I am following this case closely, for no other reason than there are thousands of parents who are denied access to their children and law enforcement does little to assist the recovery of parentally abducted children. Who is Lisa Miller to judge? Who is she to tell her daughter her other mommy is a sinner? Why is that any different than a child with a parent in prison being told the graphic details of what landed the parent in prison? Do I know men like John Wayne Gacy did not seek forgiveness and were not forgiven? No, and I won't know that until I face my maker. What Lisa Miller is doing is wrong, and she is failing to put her childs best interests first. Catholic mom in DuPage County

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