Guadalupe “Lupita” Benitez was denied infertility treatment by her Southern California healthcare providers because she is a lesbian. The trial court rejected the doctors’ claim that they do not have to follow California’s anti-discrimination law because they have religious objections to serving lesbian patients. On December 5, 2005, the Court of Appeal reversed this decision and said that the doctors must be given an opportunity to demonstrate that their refusal to...
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lesbian parents
Justices reject attempt to create exception to California non-discrimination law (San Francisco, CA, August 18, 2008)—Today, the California Supreme Court issued a unanimous ruling in Benitez v. North Coast Women’s Care Medical Group, declaring that the physicians of the North Coast Women’s Care Medical Group cannot deny medical treatment to individuals based on their sexual orientation. In 1999, North Coast Women’s Care Medical Group refused to provide fertility treatments to Guadalupe Benitez...
B.F. and T.D., a lesbian couple, were in a committed relationship for seven years. When their attempts to get pregnant were unsuccessful, the couple decided to adopt. Because the availability of second parent adoptions is unclear in Kentucky, only T.D. adopted the child. For the next six years, the couple raised their child together. After the couple separated, however, T.D. cut off all contact between B.F. and the child, forcing B.F. to file for visitation. Both the trial court and the...
Angela G. and D.W., a lesbian couple, had a child together in 1998. After the couple separated, D.W. arbitrarily cut off all contact between Angela and the child, forcing Angela to file for custody. The trial court held that Angela was not a parent and had no right to any contact with the child. In June 2005, the California Court of Appeal reversed the trial court’s decision and held that Angela is a parent and has the right to seek custody. NCLR represented Angela in her appeal.
In a decision issued on February 16, 2007, the Utah Supreme Court reversed three decades of Utah case law holding that courts may protect children’s relationships with non-biological parents. Keri Jones and Cheryl Barlow had a child together in Utah using alternative insemination. After they separated, Barlow tried to keep Jones from having any contact with their child. In 2004, a Utah trial court granted Jones visitation. Barlow, who is represented by an anti-gay legal organization,...
Sue Ellen Carvin and Page Britain were in a committed relationship for 12 years. They had a child and raised her together for six years. After the couple separated, Britain cut off all contact between Carvin and the child. In November 2005, the Washington Supreme Court held that Carvin is a parent and is entitled to seek custody or visitation. Carvin was represented by the Northwest Women’s Law Center. NCLR, Lambda Legal, and Children of Lesbians and Gays Everywhere (COLAGE) filed an...
Kristine H. and Lisa R. had a child together using alternative insemination. Before the child was born, they petitioned a court to issue an order declaring both women to be the child’s legal parents. When the couple separated a few years later, however, Kristine challenged Lisa’s parental status and tried to prevent her from having any right to custody or visitation. In August 2005, the California Supreme Court ruled that Kristine was barred from challenging the court’s order...
NCLR Files Opening Brief in Lesbian Child Support Case (San Francisco, CA November 15, 2004) — The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) filed a brief with the California Supreme Court in a lesbian child support case Elisa B. v. Superior Court. This case is one of three cases involving children born to lesbian parents currently pending before the California Supreme Court. All three cases pose the question of whether both partners in a same-sex couple who use artificial insemination to have...