Family Law and Gay and Lesbian Family Issues in the Twentieth Century

Family Law Quarterly

Volumn 33, Issue 3, 1999, Pages 523-542

  Chambers, David L ^a   Polikoff, Nancy D ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 0033275265     PISSN: 0014729X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
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References (68)

1. Baker v. Nelson, 191 N.W. 2d 185 (Minn. 1971); Jones v. Hallahan, 501 S.W.2d 588 (Ky. Ct. App. 1973); Singer v. Hara, 522 P.2d 1187 (Wash. Ct. App. 1974).
2. One of the authors, David Chambers, interviewed Jack Baker, a plaintiff in the Minnesota case, in January 1999, and, in separate conversations, John Singer (now Faygele ben Miriam) and Paul Barwick, the plaintiffs in the Washington case, in July 1998.
3. WILLIAM N. ESKRIDGE, THE CASE FOR SAME-SEX MARRIAGE: FROM SEXUAL LIBERTY TO CIVILIZED COMMITTMENT 57 (1996).
4. 478 U.S. 186 (1986).
5. See WILLIAM RUBENSTEIN, LESBIANS, GAY MEN AND THE LAW 418 n. 3 (1998).
6. Baehr v. Lewin, 852 P.2d 44 (Haw. 1993).
7. See "Legislative Reactions to Suits for Same-Sex Marriage," 〈http:// www.buddybuddy.com〉.
8. Defense of Marriage Act, Pub. L. No. 104-199, 110 Stat. 2419 (1996) (codified as 28 U.S.C. § 1738C and 1 U.S.C. § 7).
9. See, e.g., Barbara Cox, Same-Sex Marriage and Choice of Law: If We Marry in Hawaii, Are We Still Married When We Return Home, 1994 WIS. L. REV. 1033.
10. See 142 CONG. REC. S10,068 (daily ed., Sept. 9, 1996).
11. Defense of Marriage Act: Hearing on S. 1740 Before the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, 1996 WL 387295 (July 11, 1996) (Rep. Largent, the bill's sponsor, spoke at the Senate hearings in support of the bill.)
12. Baehr v. Miike, 1996 WL 694235 (Haw. Cir. Ct. 1996).
13. The Alaska case produced a victory for the plaintiffs in the trial court, with a holding that the statute limiting marriages to persons of the opposite sex violates gay persons fundamental right to marry (Brause v. Bureau of Vital Statistics, 1998 WL 88743), but Alaska's legislature responded by proposing a constitutional amendment to limit marriage to one man and one woman and Alaska's voters adopted the amendment in 1998 by about the same margin as Hawaii. The plaintiffs in the District of Columbia case lost in both the trial and appellate court. Dean v. District of Columbia, 653 A.2d 307 (D.C. Ct. App. 1995). The New York case was dismissed on appeal (Storrs v. Holcomb, No. 80174 (N.Y. App. Div., Dec. 24, 1998)) and has been refiled.
14. See, e.g., In re Adoption of Adult Anonymous, 435 N.Y.S.2d 527 (N.Y. Fam. Ct. 1981). But see In re the Adoption of Robert Paul P., 471 N.E.2d 424 (N.Y. 1984) (denying adoption).
15. Braschi v. Stahl Assocs. Co., 543 N.E.2d 49 (N.Y. 1989).
16. See Nancy Knauer, Domestic Partnership and Same-Sex Relationships: A Marketplace Innovation and a Less than Perfect Institutional Choice, 7 TEMP. POLITICAL & CIVIL RTS. L. REV. 337, 341 (1998).
17. After the bill was enacted, the state attorney general ruled that private employers could not be required to provide health benefits. A federal district court upheld the Attorney General's decision.
18. Hawaii, New York, Oregon, and Vermont. See Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund website, 〈http://www.lambdalegal.org〉. In October 1999, California began permitting domestic partners to register.
19. See Knauer, supra note 16, at 339.
20. Commonwealth v. Bradley, 91 A.2d 379 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1952).
21. Schuster v. Schuster and Isaacson v. Isaacson, 585 P.2d 130 (Wash. 1978).
22. Many of these early cases are discussed in Nan D. Hunter & Nancy D. Polikoff, Custody Rights of Lesbian Mothers: Legal Theory and Litigation Strategy, 25 BUFF. L. REV. 691 (1976), and Rhonda R. Rivera, Our Straight-Laced Judges: The Legal Position of Homosexual Persons in the United States, 30 HASTINGS L. J. 798 (1979).
23. Many of these early cases are discussed in Nan D. Hunter & Nancy D. Polikoff, Custody Rights of Lesbian Mothers: Legal Theory and Litigation Strategy, 25 BUFF. L. REV. 691 (1976), and Rhonda R. Rivera, Our Straight-Laced Judges: The Legal Position of Homosexual Persons in the United States, 30 HASTINGS L. J. 798 (1979).
24. Christian v. Randall, 516 P.2d 132 (Colo. Ct. App. 1973).
25. See cases discussed in Hunter & Polikoff, supra note 22, and Rivera, supra note 22.
26. Uniform Marriage and Divorce Act, 9 U.L.A. 288 (1979).
27. AM. PSYCHIATRIC ASS'N, DIAGNOSTIC AND STATISTICAL MANUAL OF MENTAL DISORDERS 380 (3d ed. 1980).
28. John J. Conger, Proceedings of the American Psychological Association Inc, for the Year 1976, 32 AM. PSYCHOL. 408, 432 (1977).
29. Lucinda Franks, Homosexuals as Foster Parents: Is New Program an Advance or Peril?, N.Y. TIMES, May 7, 1974, p. 47.
30. In 1974, a Washington State judge approved the placement of a gay teenager with gay foster parents. A year later, however, another Washington State judge denied such a placement, siding with the child's father, who opposed it. In spite of favorable testimony from social workers, juvenile parole officers, a psychiatrist, and a psychologist, the judge reasoned that "substituting two male homosexuals for parents does violence not only to the literal definition of who are parents but offends the traditional concept of what a family is." These cases are discussed in Rivera, supra note 22, at 907-08.
31. D.C. CODE ANN. § 16-914(a)(1) and § 16-911(a)(5)(1981).
32. FLA. STAT. ANN. § 63.042(3) (West 1985 and Supp. 1995).
33. M.P. v. S.P., 404 A.2d 1256, 1263 (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. 1979).
34. See Donna Hitchens & Barbara Price, Trial Strategy in Lesbian Mother Custody Cases: The Use of Expert Testimony, 9 GOLDEN GATE U. L. REV. 451 (1978-79).
35. The earliest examples of lesbian couples choosing to raise a child together almost certainly involve conception by one member of the couple through sexual intercourse with a man for the express purpose of becoming pregnant. A 1973 New York Times article about lesbian mothers describes a couple raising an eight year old daughter conceived deliberately with the help of a mutual male friend. Judy Klemesrud, Lesbians Who Try to Be Good Mothers, N.Y. TIMES, January 31, 1973, at 46, col. 1. A 1977 custody dispute between a child's nonbiological mother and the biological mother's sister after the biological mother died concerned a child born in 1970 after the biological mother had sexual intercourse with a student she met on vacation. The lesbian couple had contacted an adoption agency in 1968 about adopting a child; when that was unsuccessful they used casual sexual intercourse. In re Hatzopolous, 4 Fam. L. Rep. (BNA) 2075 (Dec. 6, 1977).
36. Bezio v. Patenaude, 410 N.E.2d 1207 (Mass. 1980).
37. S.N.E. v. R.L.B., 699 P.2d 875 (Alaska 1985).
38. Guinan v. Guinan, 477 N.Y.S.2d 830 (1984); Gottlieb v. Gottlieb, 488 N.Y.S.2d 180 (1985).
39. Jacobsen v. Jacobsen, 314 N.W.2d 78 (N.D. 1981); Wolff v. Wolff, 349 N.W.2d 656 (S.D. 1984); Roe v. Roe, 324 S.E.2d 691 (Va. 1985).
40. Roe v. Roe, 324 S.E.2d 691 (Va. 1985).
41. Roberts v. Roberts, 489 N.E.2d 1067 (Ohio Ct. App. 1985).
42. N.K.M. v. L.E.M., 60 S.W.2d 179 (Mo. Ct. App. 1980).
43. For extensive discussion of the people involved in the Massachusetts foster care controversy, see LAURA BENKOV, REINVENTING THE FAMILY 86-98 (1994) and NEIL MILLER, IN SEARCH OF GAY AMERICA 121-30 (1989).
44. For extensive discussion of the people involved in the Massachusetts foster care controversy, see LAURA BENKOV, REINVENTING THE FAMILY 86-98 (1994) and NEIL MILLER, IN SEARCH OF GAY AMERICA 121-30 (1989).
45. In re Opinion of the Justices, 530 A.2d 21 (N.H. 1987).
46. For example, the Nevada Supreme Court terminated a father's parental rights solely because he underwent a sex change operation, Daly v. Daly, 715 P.2d 56 (Nev. 1986), and the Arkansas Supreme Court awarded sole custody to a heterosexual father, reasoning that it was proper to presume the children would be harmed living with their lesbian mother in an "immoral" environment. Thigpen v. Carpenter, 730 S.W.2d 510 (Ark. Ct. App. 1987). On the other hand, a New Mexico appeals court overturned a trial judge's refusal to place a neglected child in the custody of his adult brother who was gay. The court reasoned that a proposed custodian's sexual orientation was not enough to conclude that he would be unable to provide a child with a proper environment. In re Jacinta M., 764 P.2d 1327 (N.M. Ct. App. 1988). And during this period, decisions in California and Washington State overturned restrictions on a gay or lesbian parent's visitation rights. See In re Marriage of Birdsall, 197 Cal. App. 3d 1024 (1988); In re Marriage of Cabalquinto, 718 P.2d 7 (Wash Ct. App. 1986).
47. These cases are discussed in Nancy D. Polikoff, This Child Does Have Two Mothers: Redefining Parenthood to Meet the Needs of Children in Lesbian-Mother and Other Non-Traditional Families, 78 GEO. L.J. 459 (1990).
48. In re Pearlman, 15 Fam. L. Rep. (BNA) 1355 (Fla. Cir. Ct. 1989).
49. Alison D. v. Virginia M., 572 N.E.2d 27 (N.Y. 1991); Thomas S. v. Robin Y., 618 N.Y.S.2d 356 (App. Div. 1994); Z.C.W. v. Lisa W., 84 Cal. Rptr. 2d 48 (Cal. Ct. App. 1999); Jhordan C. v. Mary K. , 224 Cal. Rptr. 530 (Cal. Ct. App. 1986).
50. Liston v. Pyles, 1997 Ohio App. LEXIS 3627 (1977); Jones v. Fowler, 969 S.W.2d 429 (Tex. 1998); Titchenal v. Dexter, 693 A.2d 682 (Vt. 1997), Kazmierazak v. Query, 1999 Fla. App. LEXIS 6355 (1999).
51. In re H.S. H.-K., 533 N.W.2d 419 (Wis. 1995); A.C. v. C.B., 829 P.2d 660 (N.M. 1992); E.N.O. v. L.M.M., 711 N.E.2d 886 (Mass. 1999).
52. AMERICAN PSYCHOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION, LESBIAN AND GAY PARENTING: A RESOURCE FOR PSYCHOLOGISTS 8 (1995).
53. In re Adoption of Minor (T. and M.), 17 Fam. L. Rep. (BNA) 1523 (D.C. Super. 1991).
54. In re Adoption of Evan, 583 N.Y.S.2d 997 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 1992); Ronald Sullivan, Judge Lets Gay Partner Adopt Child, N.Y. TIMES, Jan. 31, 1992, at B1; James D. Marks, A Victory for the New American Family, N.Y. TIMES, Feb. 1, 1992, at 21.
55. In re Adoption of Evan, 583 N.Y.S.2d 997 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 1992); Ronald Sullivan, Judge Lets Gay Partner Adopt Child, N.Y. TIMES, Jan. 31, 1992, at B1; James D. Marks, A Victory for the New American Family, N.Y. TIMES, Feb. 1, 1992, at 21.
56. In re Dana, 660 N.E.2d 397 (N.Y. 1995); In re Adoption of Two Children by H.N.R., 666 A.2d 535 (N.J. Super. Ct. App. Div. 1995); In re Adoptions of B.L.V.B. and E.L.V.B., 628 A.2d 1271 (Vt. 1993); In re Adoption of Tammy, 619 N.E.2d 315 (Mass. 1993); In re Petition of K.M. and D.M., 653 N.E.2d 888 (Ill. App. Ct. 1995); In re M.M.D. & B.H.M., 662 A.2d 837 (D.C. 1995).
57. In re Angel Lace M., 516 N.W.2d 678 (Wis. 1994); In re Adoption of T.K.J., 931 P.2d 488 (Colo. 1996); In re Adoption of Doe, 1998 WL 904252 (Ohio Ct. App. 1998); In re Adoption of Baby Z., 724 A.2d 1035 (Conn. 1999).
58. See A. Green, Boards Adopts Ban on Gay Foster Parents, ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE, March 24, 1999, at B-3; R. Rivera, Board Defends Its Ban on Gay Adoptions, SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, October 30, 1999, at D2.
59. See A. Green, Boards Adopts Ban on Gay Foster Parents, ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE, March 24, 1999, at B-3; R. Rivera, Board Defends Its Ban on Gay Adoptions, SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, October 30, 1999, at D2.
60. N.H. REV. STAT. ANN. §§ 170-B:2 to B:4, 170-F:2 to F:6 (1994) (repealed 1999).
61. N.H. Law Repeals Ban on Gay Adoptions, BOSTON GLOBE, May 4, 1999, at B5.
62. The House version did not become law in 1998 because it was deleted in the House-Senate Conference Committee.
63. Bottoms v. Bottoms, 444 S.E.2d 276 (Va. Ct. App. 1994).
64. Bottoms v. Bottoms, 457 S.E.2d 102 (Va. 1995).
65. Marlow v. Marlow, 702 N.E.2d 733 (Ind. Ct. App. 1998); J.A.D. v. F.J.D., 978 S.W.2d 336 (Mo. 1998)(en banc); Pulliam v. Smith, 501 S.E.2d 898 (N.C. 1998); In re J.B.F and J.M.F., 730 So. 2d 1190 (Ala. 1998); Wiegand v. Houghton, 730 So. 2d 581 (Miss. 1999).
66. J.B.F. v. J.M.F., 730 So. 2d 1190 (Ala. 1998).
67. Boswell v. Boswell, 721 A.2d 662 (Md. 1998).
68. In re Marriage of Pleasant, 628 N.E.2d 633 (Ill. App. Ct. 1993); Blew v. Verta, 617 A.2d 31 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1992); In re Marriage of Wicklund, 932 P.2d 652 (Wash. Ct. App. 1996).