Lisa and Janet split, Isabella pays the price

BACKSTORIES

Lisa Miller must really dislike her former lover Janet Jenkins.

Lisa continues her attempts to deny Janet visitation with their daughter.

According to a AP article the judged dismissed Lisa's most recent attempt.

Dear Lisa,

You sound very self centered [ie: if you love your daughter you wouldn't do this to her], using your daughter as a wedge for your anger only harms everyone [yourself, Isabella and Janet]. It seems you are okay with the "fallout"!

Darling Lisa, if you wish to be angry, spiteful and end up with high blood pressure that is your choice and should affect ONLY YOU!

Isabella has feelings and would like to make her choice as well.

It is very very wrong for you to deny Isabella her choice!

As a part of the GLBTQIA community it seems very hypocritical to tell your daughter who she can love!

United Kingdom: Gay Divorce Rate less than One Percent

By Tony Grew
Pink News UK

Between December 2005, when gay and lesbian couples gained the legal right to formalise their relationships, and December 2007, there were 24,629 civil partnerships in England and Wales.

Figures obtained by PinkNews.co.uk show that less than 250 lesbian and gay civil partnerships have ended in a dissolution.

"This is a small number and it confirms that many people entering into civil partnerships take it very seriously indeed."

"Certainly there is no credible evidence that lesbian and gay people do not live in stable relationships."

full article

TiVo partners with James Dobson's Focus on the Family

Click here to read UPDATE

by Jeff
Proud Parenting

Jennifer Chrysler, executive director of Family Equality Council, sent an email to members alerting them to a major bungle by the popular entertainment service, TiVo.

In her email to members - Jennifer writes, "I just found out that TiVo, the home entertainment company servicing millions of families nationwide, is working with James Dobson's Focus on the Family on a "SuperDad Essay Contest" for Father's Day. As you can imagine, Focus on the Family is only looking for one type of "super" dads and they certainly are not part of our community. That a national company many of our families send checks to each month would sponsor a Father's Day contest with Focus on the Family is horrendous. I need you - all of you - to help us respond.

"I won't often ask you to visit Focus on the Family's website, but today I am. The Family Equality Council is organizing a response to this discriminatory contest, asking you to nominate yourself or the GBTQ dads in your life. To do so, you have to visit the website, sign up for their parenting forums (message boards), and submit your nomination (100 words or less) through the boards. I encourage two-dad families to submit joint stories, highlighting the greatness of both dads in one entry!"

full article

Update: Virginia upholds Vermonts' lesbian child custody ruling

Windy City Times

Lisa and Janet Miller-Jenkins entered into a civil union in Vermont in 2001, and daughter Isabella was born shortly thereafter. ( Lisa was artificially inseminated. ) After the couple broke up, Lisa—who changed her surname to Miller—moved to Virginia and renounced her lesbianism. A Vermont court gave Miller primary custody and awarded Janet Jenkins visitation rights. Then, a Virginia court granted Miller sole custody and denied Jenkins visits. However, on June 6th, the state's supreme court employed a federal statute to enforce the Vermont court's ruling.

backstory

full article

VIDEO: Calif. rally to celebrate supreme court ruling

Janet, Lisa and Isabella

Janet Jenkins and Lisa Miller got hitched and had a baby together. Vermont says that's a simple truth. Virginia said it was all null and void. The future of a little girl hangs in the balance.

BLOGGER NOTE: As I read the words above I noticed a similar story. I had to look at them both a couple of times because the tone of each were polar opposites.

JANET AND LISA MILLER-JENKINS MADE LOVE IN THE MORNING BEFORE LEAVING FOR THE DOCTOR'S OFFICE. At least that's how Janet remembers it. "We had a connection in the morning before we left," Janet said. Afterward, eager to keep their tender connection alive amid the clinical setting of the infertility specialist's office, Janet laid her hands upon her partner -- one palm on Lisa's thigh, the other on Lisa's upper arm -- as a doctor inseminated Lisa with sperm from an anonymous man the two women knew only as donor No. 2309. It was, according to Janet, a ritual the Virginia couple repeated more than once before Lisa gave birth April 16, 2002, to a 5-pound, 15-ounce baby girl named Isabella Ruth Miller-Jenkins.

"This baby was made in love," said Janet, now 42 and living in Vermont.

Lisa, 38, offers a dramatically different account of the begetting of Isabella. According to her, Janet didn't even go with her to the fertility doctor's office on the day Isabella was conceived.

That's just one of many issues Lisa and Janet are arguing in court, where the final chapters of their modern love story are being written. As with other couples who have split, their truths have diverged; through the lens of loss, each views their time together differently. Unlike most warring couples, however, the once hopeful and happy Miller-Jenkinses are at the center of a high-stakes, ideologically charged legal dispute waged across several courtrooms in two states. On one side are lawyers who are leading gay-rights activists; on the other are legal combatants for a conservative Christian foundation associated with Jerry Falwell.

Full article here

Christian Right article here

Kentucky Bill Would Ban Domestic Partner Benefits

(Frankfort, Kentucky) Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear (D) says he will veto a bill that would bar state funded agencies or colleges from offering domestic partner benefits if the measure arrives on his desk.

The bill passed the state Senate 30 - 5 on Wednesday with five Democrats voting against it. Among them was Sen. Ernesto Scorsone of Lexington, the only openly gay man in the Senate.

"The only thing that drives this measure is a gay-bashing effort," said Scorsone.

The bill was prepared after the University of Louisville decided in July to offer the benefits - making it the first publicly funded college in the state to do so. (story) The University of Kentucky later followed also offering health benefits to same-sex domestic partners.

Attorney General Greg Stumbo issued a legal opinion that the university plans would violate the state's constitutional ban on same-sex marriage.

The attorney general in releasing the opinion said that if the university did not expand the program, and stuck to providing benefits to unmarried couples, he would take the university to court.

Following that the University of Kentucky expanded its benefits plan to include all dependants who reside with university workers. (story)

Throughout the country about 300 universities and colleges provide health and insurance benefits to the domestic partners of their workers. In addition more than half of the Fortune 500 companies, provide benefits.

full article

Oregon Followup: Civil Unions; for real this time?

As we remember back in August "Oregon conservatives" were gathering signatures to force a vote on Oregon civil unions. They didn't have enough signatures.

Then an out of state "conservative group" contacted a federal judge, who, in turn, placed the civil unions on hold.

Now that judge suddenly lifts the hold!

A federal judge this afternoon threw out a lawsuit against Oregon's domestic partnership law, allowing the legislation to go into effect about 4:20 p.m.

The verdict was greeted with honking horns and shouts of joy outside the federal courthouse in downtown Portland.

Grinning amid a scrum of reporters, Jeana Frazzini, executive director of Basic Right Oregon, a gay rights group, called the decision "thrilling."

"Not only did we win on the merits of the case, we really won new rights," she told a gaggle of reporters outside the federal courthouse in Portland.

Friday's ruling by U.S. District Judge Michael Mosman came a little more than a month after he had blocked Oregon's domestic partnership law for gays and lesbians from taking effect, as scheduled, in early January.

Mosman set a Feb. 1 hearing to hear a lawsuit by gay-rights opponents challenging the state's methods for verifying voter signatures.

The judge ruled that ultimately there was no constitutional right when you sign a petition to have the signature counted.

full story

OREGON: Civil Unions on hold

Many couples were anxiously waiting for the clock's first tick of 2008. They were waiting to publicly express their love for each other in a long awaited civil union.

Recent news puts it all on hold:

Opponents to marriage equality saw to it that the Oregon state constitution was amended to exclude gay and lesbian families in 2004. Now, with a law to permit civil unions poised to come into effect on January 1, 2008, anti-gay activists are targeting the state with a federal lawsuit, alleging that signatures were illegally declared invalid on a petition to require that the civil unions law be subject to a vote during next year’s election, rather than passed by state legislators and signed into law by the governor.

full article

Australian gay rights

Another small victory for LGBT equality in Australia has been won with the announcement that same-sex partners in the state of New South Wales will have the right to decline to give evidence against their partner in court.

The change from "de facto spouse" to "de facto partner" is intended to be gender neutral, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.

"(Attorney General) Philip Ruddock is refusing to incorporate this definition into the Commonwealth version of the Uniform Evidence Act," said spokesman Justin Kelly.

The change to the law will come into effect in NSW in early 2008.

Mr Ruddock and Prime Minister John Howard are facing re-election later this year. Their government has proved hostile to recognition for same-sex couples and passed federal legislation in 2004 banning same-sex marriage.