Lesbian cannot be “Mommy”
A district court judge ruled against a lesbian woman seeking to attain legal standing as the mother of her former lover’s child and, in the process, struck a blow to parental rights.
In 2006, Gena-Louise Edvalson entered into a “contract” with her lover, Jana Dickson, to co-parent her partner’s newborn son. But after the relationship ended, Edvalson sued Dickson, who is now married to a man, demanding the mother honor the contract and grant her former partner parental standing in the boy’s life.
The fundamental rights of parents to raise children the way they see fit should not be threatened by the wishes and desires of a legal stranger,” said Mylar in a statement. “The court correctly ruled that this little boy’s right to his mother under state law is of far greater value than the wishes of someone who has no legal relationship to the child.”
“This case involved a private agreement that Edvalson would be elevated to the level of a parent,” Mylar said. “But there are adoption, marriage, divorce and paternity laws that govern who has parental status. For someone just to say, ‘I’m going to decide you’re a parent, and that gives you constitutional rights over my child,’ offends public policy.”
Judge Dever used the same language in the decision, writing, “The Utah Supreme Court has held that contracts that offend public policy are void. ... Therefore, while people are generally free to bind themselves to any contract, those contracts which are contrary to public policy are illegal.”
While I do believe it is child abuse in the extreme for Lesbians and Homosexuals to be allowed to Foster or Adopt a child, this case involves a more narrow issue; that is, can Gays and Lesbians enter into private contracts to engage in activity that is contrary to existing law?
Why is that important to me? I believe that homosexuals cannot meet the minimum requirements for marriage and therefore are ineligible, as couples, to legally establish themselves as parents for children not of their womb or seed. Thus, if a Lesbian has a child and marries or cohabits with another woman, only the woman that bore the child should be allowed under law to have any parental rights over that child. If a gay man sires a child, his male partner should never have any lawful rights as a parent for that child.
