Subscribe to Breaking News
Loading ...Judge issues stern warning in nasty lesbian custody case
01.29.2009 5:06pm EST
(Rutland, Vermont) In a long-running legal dispute between two women over parental visitation rights, a Vermont Family Court judge Thursday issued a stern rebuke to a Virginia woman over her latest attempt to deny her former partner visitation rights to their child.
Judge William Cohen denied a new bid by Lisa Miller of Winchester, Virginia to deny visitation rights to Janet Jenkins of Fair Haven, Vermont.And Cohen warned Miller, the 6- year-old child’s birth mother, that she risks losing custody of the girl if she continues to violate court orders.
But Cohen also turned down a request from Jenkins that she be given primary custody. Instead, Cohen ruled that Jenkins must be given five weeks of custody in the summer.
The case was fought for three years in Vermont and Virginia courts. In December, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the case, allowing a Vermont court order giving Jenkins visitation rights to stand.
Miller conceived Isabella through artificial insemination. At the time, Miller was in a relationship with Jenkins, which had been formalized by a civil union in Vermont where they then 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 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.
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 U.S. 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 and Miller presented no new evidence to reopen the case.
Liberty Counsel appealed again to the Virginia Supreme Court which refused to hear the case. In its second appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, Liberty Counsel said the Virginia Supreme Court improperly ignored a state law and constitutional amendment that prohibit same-sex unions and the recognition of such arrangements from other states.
By not taking the case, the Supreme Court left it to Family Court in Vermont to determine the details of visitation.
And all the while, that horrible woman in Virginia is probably poisoning the child’s mind on a daily basis.
Let’s hope the court comes to it’s senses and grants the other mother primary custody.
It’s nice to see that women who are visious vile non-nuturing parents are alive and well and out there creating visibility….. I have had way too many women libers point and lump men on as the evil in the equation….. this shows that women are no better or worse than men.
Finally women are not a part the solution but the problem.
I feel better as a man because I am not part of this!
How is the mother poisoning the mind of her child? Two neurotic women beget a neurotic daughter. Should we explain to the child how to engage in sadomasochistic behavior because it’s a loving relationship? Knowingly promoting “borderline” caretaker environments for children, regardless of the gender or socioeconomic status of the caretaker environment, is no less than unethical if not antisocial behavior by neurotic legal and medical professionals.
No RJ, the child should be taught that their mothers love and care for them. The one mother should not be attempting to keep her other mother from spending time with her and helping her grow into a fine young woman. It’s the same issues as when heterosexuals split. Both parents care and are a part of this child’s life.
If these women can’t resolve their differences and quit pulling the child this way and that, then I would 100% support a judge totally removing the child from this toxic way of life and giving her to another couple gay or straight who have no connection with either of these women and who would love her and give her a brand new start in life. Enough is enough. Time to call a screeching halt to the madness, remove the child to where she can finally live in peace and flourish as a human being and let these two fighting women scream, wail, pull their hair, gnash their teeth,blame each other, the judicial system and their attorneys for all this. I don’t see where this girl is being benefitted anyway and anyhow by this madness, hatred and divisiveness. The only other way to solve this problem is to saw the child in 2 halves from the top of her head right down the middle of her spine and toss a half of her to each of these fighting wannabe parents. Since sawing her in half is not an option, I recommend the previous option of a judge entirely removing her from all this insanity and giving her to another couple who have no stake in this outcome and who are not personally familiar with either of the endlessly fighting parties and preferably over a thousand miles away from either of these woman, maybe on some Hawaiian island.
Trace, this whole sorry saga between these 2 women with this child in the middle of it all has dragged on for far too many years. If this child manages to reach adulthood without feeling torn this way and that between these 2 women or without despising at least one of them and lamenting not having a normal childhood and a normal adolescence (at least in terms of some other kids who have 2 parents who seem to manage to get along most of the time)it will be a miracle.
And it will take a miracle for the fighting over this child to end. Since no court in either state has succeeded in ending that turmoil for the child’s sake, then before it is too late for the child, I hope that either some judge will have mercy on the girl and say ladies, you’ve have had your chance and you blew it. And so she can hopefully have a more normal childhood, I am awarding custody of her to a very nice couple (gay or straight) who give every appearance of having their act together and who appear to have a happy and stable home life and who have other children and (maybe pets) for her to be with. Either that or the child gets to choose which of these mothers she would really rather spend her life with even at the risk of causing severe emotional pain and anguish to the other sparring woman. The child’s best interest needs to be placed above that of these women, since they may never get along and maybe never create a suitable and stable home for this child without the other woman trying every legal means of snatching the kid all to herself.
Since there seems to be no end to the strife, anger, hatred and bitterness etc. with the child caught up in the middle of it all, maybe the above would best for the child. She needs stability in her life. And this unending parental warfare is preventing her from realizing a tranquil childhood, and that is very sad.
More proof that Gay divorce will be no different from Straight ones
Maybe if the biological mother had followed the ruling of the Vermont court in the first place, all of this nastiness wouldn’t be happening but no, she was determined to break the law and disobey a court order; but then again, look who is bankrolling her right now
From what I read in newsweek a while ago all Janet Jenkins wants is to see her child. Lisa Miller some how got religion and is trying to deny her former partner of visitation rights.
So glad to hear that the courts keep wanting to inforce what I see as fair.
Shame on Ms. Miller and shame on Liberty
Counsel.
Tom in Long Beach
I have no idea why people seem to feel that this woman in Vermont is at fault for this situation. This is not a fight between to parents. This is a fight with one parent that does not want to abide by court visitation orders.
This is the most riduculous story I’ve ever heard….these woman should be put in jail for kidnapping. It must be costing these two mega bucks that they could both be spending on the child…in this day and time we should all be thinking of ways to save our money not give it to people who in no way care one way or the other if you keep your child through the summer or not! These women need to give it up and enjoy that child. Hopefully the woman who ran like a criminal to Virginia gets her just rewards! I wish them both peace and harmony!
Where is the love between these woman, and where and when is this ugly saga going to finally end? The woman Lisa Miller who shanghais the child to Virginia, because that state has a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage and she thinks in a so-called “family friendly”
state where she can find legal sympathy from a Virginia judge if need be inspite of rulings to the contrary by Vermont judges in favor of her ex Janet Jenkins, claims she is no longer a lesbian and and hires Liberty Counsel an antigay conservative right-wing legal outfit to take up her cause of getting sole custody of the child, and is likely poisoning her child’s mind against Janet and will soon be poisoning her child’s mind against gay people in general.
She runs off with this child to Virginia in defiance of Vermont’s rulings.
I don’t see how the child is benefitting from this horror story.
If the child is remain with either parent it should be with her Vermont mother.
The Virginia mother has gone off the deep end throwing away every thing and defying the court in VT. And essentially kidnapping the child from the VT mother.
Lisa Miller will never be right and while ideally the child should be removed from this whole toxic situation that may never be resolved for the child’s sake, I feel that under further reflection, the child should be just given back to Janet Jenkins by court order in VA to recognize the existing court orders in Vermont and hopefully the child can hopefully have once again have a chance for a more normal life with a more stable mother. Lisa Miller’s hostile, defiant, likely unlawful and highly unorthodox and potentially harmful behavior re: the girl’s best interest and showing contempt for the custody ruling of the Vermont court’s ruling doesn’t make her look like a woman I would want if I were a judge to award custody of a child to.
who is this lesbian..? Can I slap the [crap] out of her? She makes us ALL look bad!
Well, Bruce, you certainly elevated my opinion of men with your sweet little post.
For your information, just because these women hate each other does NOT mean they are bad parents.
Also, to clarify, women are the kinder, gentler sex in the LARGE majority, and they are NOT known for murder, rape, molestation, beating, or any other violent behavior.
No, THIS article does NOT prove that women are on an “equal” basis as men concerning “bad behavior.”
But, I’m glad you are proud to be a man and out of this situation.
Why Pat, while male violence is more open and overt… female violence is far more sneeky and overt. As a result it is not as recorded statistically as abuse but as women standing up for their rights.
All too often, as in your statments, the abusive language is coded as a valid point (valid only in your opinion), and used as a dismissive.
The abuse these women have inflicted on this child is extreme on many levels, but what makes it truly of note is; it is overt and open , not typical of the usual feminin traits of subversive, sneeky and under the social radar!
Pat are you a man or a woman… your name is amorpheous?