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Loading ...Lesbian custody case rages on despite ruling
08.19.2008 10:34am EDT
(Winchester, Virginia) A woman attempting to keep her former partner from having visitation rights to her daughter has lost yet another round in a lengthy legal battle that has involved the high courts in two states.
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.
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 U.S. Supreme Court, which refused to hear the case.
The case then returned to the Virginia Supreme Court, which ruled in June that the Vermont high court’s ruling should stand. The court cited the federal Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act, which says custody orders of one state must be enforced in other states.
But Miller returned to a lower court in Virginia requesting a halt in the visitation order.
On Monday, Frederick County Circuit Judge John Prosser dismissed the application, saying the courts had already ruled in Miller presented no new evidence to reopen the case.
ACLU attorney Rebecca Glenberg, who is representing Jenkins, said that Miller’s lawyers were trying to re-litigate the case and attempting an “end-run” around the state Supreme Court decision.
Liberty Counsel said it intends to appeal on Miller’s behalf.
Lisa Miller should be arrested for kidnapping and custody should be given to Janet Jenkins until such time as Ms. Miller can prove that she is emotionally stable enough to provide proper parenting for the child. Being the biological parent should not automatically qualify her as the “superior” parent. If that were the precedent, children who are adopted could have their biological parents deciding after the fact that they want their children back. Should Ms. Miller at some point in time, prove her stability, joint custody should be provided. This selfish and unstable woman is the ideal pawn for anti-gay bigots who could not care less about the welfare of the child beyond her potential to discredit other GLBT families.
Thank you Lisa Miller and Liberty Counsel for establishing so much legal precedence in child custody with same-sex parents. The continued pursuit of this only fortifies the reality that the bigots will never give up on their anti-gay agenda.
Where is King Solomon?
That poor little girl. Neither mother loves enough to let go.
It’s so sad that the real victim in this is Isabelle. One of the very children that the religious right claims needs to be protected from those terrible homosexuals. Instead Liberty Counsel is using Isabelle as a pawn to further their hatred towards gays. Lisa Miller is obvious in need of serious mental counseling and the Vermont Court should grant temporary custody to Janet Jenkins or place the child foster care until she can demonstrate she is truly a fit parent to raise a child and is no longer perusing a personal vendetta against her former partner. Being the biological parent does not give Lisa Miller the required credentials to be a fit parent.
How many times are they going to allow Lisa Miller to keep doing this?? I’ve followed this case for years and while I personally think it’s gone on way too long, at least it’s worked its way through every court that will hear the case. At this point, Lisa Miller is just pathetic and needs to follow the court’s ruling or get arrested.