That is what the AP calls it. But actually this dispute between two women will become more and more common, unfortunately.
A Santa Cruz court is slated to hear a custody dispute between former lesbian partners in which the biological mother has become romantically involved with the sperm donor father of her 10-month-old twins. Ah yes, the father: the forgotten figure in the demands that Presumption of Paternity be replaced by Presumption of Parenthood.
Kim T. Smith of Santa Cruz has sued for joint custody of the twins, saying she and former partner Maggie Quale agreed to raise the boys together. Agreed? How? Can she prove that? What would count as proof?
Qaule and the boy’s biological father, 28-year-old Shawn Wallace, now live together and argue they should be able to fully parent the children. The nerve of them.
Quale and Smith never registered as domestic partners with the state. But the two women are listed as the boys’ parents on their birth certificates, and the twins carry the hyphenated last name Quale-Smith. So Ms. Smith is not related to the children by biology, or adoption, usual routes for establishing parenthood. Nor were they domestic partners. Let us call her a “non-parent.”
Smith’s attorney said she had never heard of a case in which a biological mother has tried to “sub in” the biological father following the break-up of a lesbian relationship. Actually, there was a case in Washington state in 2005 called In re Parentage of LB, in which the mother married the father.
“If they won, we would consider it a very dangerous precedent for lesbian couples having children with the assistance of known sperm donors,” said Deborah Wald, a family law attorney who is representing smith along with the National Center for Lesbian Rights. A moment of clarity: the National Center for Lesbian Rights is trying to assign parental rights to non-parents. And suing perfectly fit parents to surrender their parenting rights which surely include the right to decide whom their children will spend time with.
You can find more commentary from the (roughly) right here and from the (roughly) left here. I say “roughly” in both cases, because the comments are split. I think this is a good thing. People are not just jerking their knees, but actually having to think about this case.