This case is about a married lesbian couple who used a known sperm donor to have a child. The couple raised the child together for more than two years. When the couple divorced, the sperm donor brought a lawsuit alleging that he—not the birth mother’s former spouse—is the child’s second legal parent. Under Oklahoma’s Uniform Parentage Act, there is a strong presumption that both spouses are the legal parents of a child born to a married couple. That presumption can only be challenged...
Our Voices
In 2023, the State of Michigan passed PA 117 and PA 118, banning conversion therapy for minors. Catholic Charities of Jackson, Lenawee and Hillsdale Counties, a nonprofit that “carries out the work of the Roman Catholic Church,” and Emily McJones, a Lansing-based therapist who provides evidence-based treatments that is faithful to the teachings of the Catholic Church, brought suit claiming the ban is too broad and violates the constitutional rights of counselors. The plaintiffs said they have...
The Minnesota Court of Appeals ruled on August 12, 2024 that the Ramsey County District Court should have dismissed a paternity action brought against a same-sex married couple by their sperm donor. In its opinion, the appellate court sided with mothers Julianna and Catherine Sheridan, concluding that the lower court wrongly denied their motion to dismiss and that the sperm donor was precluded from bringing a paternity action for their child under Minnesota law. In August 2017, Christopher...
Arizona’s Senate Bill (S.B.) 1165 bans transgender girls from competing on school sports teams at every grade and competition level no matter the sport and without regard for each girl’s individual circumstances. In April 2023, NCLR and the law firms Debevoise & Plimpton LLP and Osborn Maledon P.A. filed a case challenging this ban, representing two transgender girls who are barred from playing the sports they love. The complaint alleges that S.B. 1165 violates the Equal Protection Clause...
On March 28, 2022, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law HB 1557 – widely known as the “Don’t Say Gay or Trans” law – which seeks to censor discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity in Florida’s public schools. The law seeks to create a climate of fear, uncertainty, and financial risk for any Florida school that wishes to be an inclusive place of learning. Under this law, even mentioning the existence of LGBTQ people in the classroom can prompt a costly private lawsuit...
In 2020, Idaho Governor Brad Little signed into law HB 500 – the so-called “Fairness in Women’s Sports Act” – making Idaho the first state to pass a law banning transgender athletes from participating in sports. The law would bar women and girls who are transgender, and many who are intersex, from taking part in school sports consistent with their gender identity. It would also institute a “dispute” process, which would require female athletes to verify their biological sex through an...
On September 14, 2021, Equality California, NCLR, and Lambda Legal filed an amicus letter on behalf of a coalition of state, local, and national nonprofit groups urging the California Supreme Court to review Taking Offense v. State of California, an appellate decision invalidating a non-discrimination statute requiring equal treatment of LGBTQ residents of long-term care facilities. Taking Offense involves a challenge to a provision of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Long-Term...
LaNesha Matthews and Kyresha LeFever were a same-sex couple who had twins together using assisted reproduction. Their children were conceived using Kyresha’s eggs, and LaNesha gave birth, a process sometimes called egg sharing or reciprocal IVF. The parents broke up when the twins were young but coparented and shared custody for years until a dispute arose when the twins were 5-years-old. Kyresha sought shared custody, which the trial court initially granted after determining that Kyresha is a...
