A lesbian mother in Alabama will be able to visit her three adopted children as she appeals an Alabama Supreme Court order refusing to recognize her as their legal parent.
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The Alabama Supreme Court said its jurisdictional ruling didn’t amount to review on the merits.
The woman, only identified as V.L., adopted the children after deciding with her former partner to use artificial insemination.
They obtained the adoption papers there, but now, eight years later and with their relationship in shambles, the birth mother is seeking to stop the other mother from any visitation rights or otherwise.
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court granted the woman the emergency stay of that ruling, though SCOTUSBlog reports the justices did not mention visitation in the ruling.
The Alabama Supreme Court reversed that ruling, saying in an unsigned opinion that “Georgia law makes no provision for a nonspouse to adopt a child without first terminating the parental rights of the current parents”.
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas referred V.L.’s emergency application to the entire court, which granted her request to stay the Alabama court order.
“I’m overjoyed that my children and I will be able to be together again”, V.L., the mother who petitioned for the stay, said in a statement. “Notably, the guardian ad litem – the representative of the children’s interests in the litigation – also weighed in at the U.S. Supreme Court, siding with V.L. and also asking for a stay”.
Buzzfeed News’ Chris Geidner says that the court has not yet decided whether it will hear the appeal. ‘This bad Alabama decision has hurt my family and will hurt so many other families if it is not corrected’. This led to the court “voiding” the adoption in the state of Alabama. The couple split in 2011 and disagreed over custody arrangements.
Supporters of gay marriage wave the rainbow flag after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Friday that the U.S. Constitution provides same-sex couples the right to marry at the Supreme Court in Washington June 26, 2015.
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The National Center for Lesbian Rights is a national legal organization committed to advancing the human and civil rights of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community through litigation, public policy advocacy, and public education.
