Paul Pfeifer, justice in the Ohio Supreme Court |
The war by homosexual activists on traditional marriage and families in America today took a hit when the Ohio Supreme Court ruled that half of a one-time lesbian duo is not entitled to custody of the other woman's child.
In a scenario that was rare as recently as a few years ago, a dispute erupted in a lesbian partnership after one of the women used in vitro fertilization to have a child and they later split.
The non-parent sued for custody of the child but lost at Ohio's highest court.
Mathew D. Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel, which filed a friend-of-the-court brief in the case, said, "This is a great victory for parental rights. A person who is neither the biological parent nor an adoptive parent cannot be a de facto parent by merely alleging an emotional bond to the child."
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The ruling from the Supreme Court of Ohio said a biological mother, Kelly Mullen, who had allowed her one-time same-sex partner, Michele Hobbs, to "coparent" Mullen's daughter while the two women were together did not relinquish permanently her right to exclusive custody.
The court's conclusion was that the parenting arrangements were a revocable relationship.
Mullen and Hobbs lived together for several years in a house. In 2003, Mullen decided to have a child through in vitro fertilization. She gave birth to a daughter in 2005. Hobbs was listed as Mullen's "partner" on the medical documents related to the pregnancy and birth. After the partners separated in 2007, Mullen decided to not permit Hobbs to have any contact with her child. Hobbs reacted by filing for legal custody of Mullen's daughter, Liberty Counsel explained.
"Although Hobbs had no legal basis for custody of the child, Hamilton County Juvenile Court decided that Hobbs should be granted custody, because she acted like a parent and was listed as a 'coparent' in a few documents. That ruling was reversed by Juvenile Court Judge Thomas Lipps because, 'The most important factor in the determination of whether the mother's words, actions and deeds amounted to a contractual relinquishment of some of her custodial rights was her consistent refusal to enter into a shared custody agreement,'" Liberty Counsel said.
The state Supreme Court opinion noted the "counterevidence" that Mullen revoked the documents that gave Hobbs some custodial responsibilities.
"The juvenile court concluded that there was reliable, credible evidence that Mullen's conduct did not create an agreement to permanently relinquish sole custody of her child in favor of shared custody with Hobbs. … Mullen had not agreed to permanently cede partial custody rights," the ruling said.
"We hold that competent, credible, and reliable evidence supports the juvenile court's conclusion that Mullen did not create an agreement to permanently relinquish sole legal custody of her child in favor of shared legal custody with Hobbs."
However, as an indication of how far the concept has advanced that two men or two women should be called "married," a dissent by Justice Maureen O'Connor said, "The American family takes many forms, including those in which children are raised lovingly in homes headed by two fathers or two mothers …. Our evolving social and cultural notions of family and parenthood coincide with the advancement of reproductive science, medicine, and technology that now permit people to create families in ways quite different from the traditional paradigm in which children are born of one woman impregnated directly by one man."
She wrote, "As our understandings of the family evolve, so do our understandings of parenthood."
Justice Paul Pfeifer wrote a separate dissent, blasting his fellow justices and lamenting, "The law has not caught up to our culture, and this court has failed to craft a rule that addresses reality. Mullen and Hobbs employed a well-versed lawyer who represents people in their situation, and with his advice did all they could do to protect Hobbs. A maternal relationship existed between Hobbs and Lucy. Mullen taught her daughter to call another woman 'Momma' and to love her as a mother. She now wishes she hadn't, and for the majority, that's enough. It shouldn't be."