(Winchester, Virginia) A woman attempting to keep her former partner from having visitation rights to her daughter is refusing to accept court rulings in two states and the refusal of the US Supreme Court to become involved.

Lisa Miller has filed another appeal in the case.  This time her attorneys argue that the state of Virginia cannot enforce the  federal Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act, which says custody orders of one state must be enforced in other states.

Miller, who says she is no longer a lesbian, is represented by the Liberty Counsel which frequently takes up anti-gay cases.

Her brief to the Virginia Court of Appeals states that her former partner, Janet Jenkins, has no rights because of the Virginia constitutional amendment that bars same-sex marriage and civil unions.

Jenkins is represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Virginia which has asked for the appeal to be tossed out, arguing that Miller is offering nothing new.

At the center of the battle is a six-year old girl named Isabelle who was conceived through artificial insemination to 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 the conservative Christian law firm 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.

In 2007, 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. But the battle did not end there.

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.

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.

Liberty Counsel appealed again to the Virginia Supreme Court which refused to hear the case. 

Liberty Counsel then attempted to return to the US Supreme Court arguing the Virginia high court improperly ignored a state law and the state constitutional amendment.

In January, a Vermont Family Court judge ruled that Jenkins must be given five weeks of custody in the summer and warned Miller that if she did not comply she risks losing custody of the girl.