(San Francisco, August 5, 2011)—Today, Gov. Jerry Brown signed the Protection of Parent-Child Relationships Act (AB 1349). Authored by Assemblymember Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo) and sponsored by Equality California and the Association of California Adoption Lawyers (ACAL), the law allows the courts to determine who a child’s parents are in cases where there is both a non-biological parent and a man who has signed a voluntary declaration of paternity. “Parenting is more than just...
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same-sex parents
(San Francisco, August 9, 2011)—Today, the National Center for Lesbian Rights and Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP filed an amicus brief on behalf of leading family law, constitutional law and conflict of laws professors and legal experts asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a decision by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals holding that Louisiana can discriminate against children born in Louisiana and adopted by unmarried parents in other states by refusing to issue them accurate birth certificates....
A Statement from NCLR Executive Director Kate Kendell (San Francisco, CA, October 22, 2010)—Today Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum announced that he would not appeal last month’s ruling by the Third District Court of Appeal striking down Florida’s anti-gay adoption ban as unconstitutional. Florida Governor Charlie Crist and the state’s Department of Children and Families had already announced that they would not appeal the ruling. The ruling will become final after today, and will be...
Court Rules Florida’s Anti-Gay Adoption Law Is Unconstitutional (San Francisco, CA, September 22, 2010)—Today the Third District Court of Appeal in Florida unanimously upheld a 2008 Miami-Dade Circuit Court decision striking down Florida’s anti-gay adoption ban and permitting Martin Gill, a gay man, to adopt two foster children he and his partner have parented for years. Gill is represented by the ACLU of Florida. The plaintiffs presented numerous experts who testified that decades of...
Showing and Reception Set for September 14 (San Francisco, CA, August 23, 2010)—Twenty-five years after its premier, the groundbreaking documentary Choosing Children—the first film to explore and chronicle the journey taken by lesbians and gay men to become parents after they came out—will return to the silver screen at the Herbst Theater on Sept. 14 to celebrate its 25th anniversary. The landmark film, produced by two Bay Area filmmakers, Academy Award winner Debra Chasnoff and Kim Klausner,...
(San Francisco, CA, July 7, 2010)—Today, the Gay and Lesbian Medical Association and the National Center for Lesbian Rights respond to the recent article published by the Bioethics Forum of the Hastings Center , a nonpartisan bioethics institute, investigating the abuse of the steroid dexamethasone by administering the drug to pregnant women in the attempt to prevent female children from having atypical genitals or from growing up to be lesbian. A statement from The Gay and Lesbian Medical...
National Center for Lesbian Rights, Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington, and Law Professor Nancy Polikoff applaud new legal protections for children (Washington, DC, July 22, 2009)—The National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), Gay and Lesbian Activists Alliance of Washington (GLAA), and American University law professor Nancy Polikoff applaud the enactment of a new law to protect children born to same-sex parents in the District of Columbia. Councilmember Phil Mendelson was the...
(San Francisco, CA, May 13, 2009)—Today, the Florida Court of Appeal unanimously reversed a lower court ruling and held that Florida must give full faith and credit to adoptions granted to same-sex couples by other states, holding that Lara Embry, the plaintiff in the case, “must be given the same rights as any other adoptive parent in Florida.” The court based its decision on the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the federal constitution and a Florida statute requiring Florida to honor adoption...
Represented by NCLR and the law firm of Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP, Michael and Rich Butler, a San Jose couple, filed a lawsuit challenging the discriminatory policies of the for-profit websites Adoption.com and ParentProfiles.com after these businesses refused to post their profile online solely because they are a same-sex couple. The defendants’ websites, Adoption.com and ParentProfiles.com, charge fees for posting profiles of potential adoptive parents. Using the websites,...
Elisa and Emily had twins together while they were in a committed relationship. One of the twins has Down Syndrome and requires round-the-clock medical care. After Elisa and Emily separated, Elisa, the non-biological mother, stopped visiting the twins or providing any financial support. In August 2005, the California Supreme Court held that Elisa is a legal parent and must pay child support. The Court ruled that when a same-sex couple has a child through assisted reproduction, both partners...