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 Nasty Lesbian Custody Case Rambles On
by 365Gay.com Newscenter Staff
Posted: April 18, 2008 - 3:00 pm ET
(Richmond, Virginia) A nasty custody case that
has raged on for two years and involved courts in two states may be nearing an
end.
The Virginia Supreme Court is expected to rule in
June on whether a parent can take a child from one state to another and use
differing laws in the new state to override a ruling by the first.
At the center of the battle between Lisa Miller
and Janet Jenkins is a six-year old girl named Isabelle who was conceived
through artificial insemination to Lisa Miller.
At the time Miller was in a relationship with
Jenkins which had been formalized by a civil union in Vermont where they
resided.
When the relationship between the two women
soured and they split up, a judge in Vermont gave Jenkins temporary visitation
rights with the child.
Miller then fled with her daughter to Virginia
which has some of the most anti-gay legislation in the country. She then
declared she was no longer a lesbian, hired a conservative Christian law firm,
the Liberty Counsel, and went to court in Virginia seeking sole custody of the
child.
Miller argued that since gay unions are banned in
Virginia she was not obligated to abide by the Vermont ruling.
Jenkins fought the application on the grounds
that the case was already before the court in Vermont.
But, Fredrick Virginia judge John R. Prosser
ruled that since the mother resided in Virginia, a Virginia court would hear the
case. Subsequently Prosser ruled that Miller was the sole parent and that
Jenkins was nothing more a friend to the child.
In 2006 the Virginia Court of Appeals ruled that
the state of Vermont has jurisdiction in the case, and threw out Prosser's
ruling. The Appeals Court ruling was upheld by the Virginia Supreme Court.
Last year the Vermont Supreme Court unanimously
concluded that "under well-established laws designed to protect children
and families" the Vermont Family Court properly ordered visitation between
Janet and her daughter.
Liberty Counsel appealed to the US Supreme Court,
which refused to hear the case.
The case returned this week to the Virginia
Supreme Court where Liberty Counsel argued the Virginia Court of Appeals erred
in throwing out the lower court ruling declaring Miller the sole parent.
Liberty Counsel attorney Matthew Staver told the
justices that the appeals court failed to consider the ban on gay unions which
included a directive that such unions performed in states where they are legal
are not recognized in Virginia.
Attorney Joseph Price who represents Jenkins
argued that the Virginia constitutional amendment was not the issue in the case.
Price said that, as the Vermont Supreme Court
noted in its ruling, the issue was the federal Parental Kidnapping
Prevention Act, which says custody orders of one state must be enforced in
other states.
"If the court interpreted the law as Lisa wants, it would encourage a
number of absurd results," Price told the justices, including the losers of custody
cases "taking children and running to other states looking for a
different result. That's exactly what the PKPA sought to avoid."
Whichever way the Virginia high court rules the
case is expected to be appealed to the US Supreme Court.
©365Gay.com 2008
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