CUR \ Tafiukms $1171, fl/qlixe --= Cruzsm; I Tollre: s5s.32.s242 I - (866—decillllA Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor COUNSEUNG AND PSYCHOTHERAPY 380238632084 2 CHURCH STREET, BURLINGTON VT 05401 TEENS l ADULTS l INDWIDUALS l COUPLES Financial Planning is important for anyone. For gay and lesbian partners it can be crucial. For same sex partnerships, proper financial planning can help ensure that you and your loved ones are properly protected. As a Financial Consultant, my goal is to meet your needs in a relationship based on trust and professionalism, working closely with your attorney or CPA to develop a strategy based on your unique situation and objectives. Call me for a free consultation. Mitchell Rosengarten Financial Consultant (802) 775-4371 or (800) 628-2132 90 Merchants Row Rutland, VT 05701 THIS IS WHO WE ARE. THIS l3 HOW WE EARN IT.‘ Mm q Smith Bzney does not offer tax or legal advice. Please consultyour taxllegal advisor for such guidance ©2004 Gtigroup Global Markets Inc. Member SIPC. Smith Barney is a division and service mark of Eitigroup Global Makets Inc and its affiliates and is used and registered throughout the world. Cl‘lir5R.U.IP and the Urrbrella Device are trademarks and service marks of Citicorp or Its affiliates and are used and registered throughout the world. THIS IS WHO WE ARE. THIS IS HOW M EARN |Tls a zarvice mark of citdgroup Global Markets Inc. , Bv. EUAN BEAR MONTPELIER — The question ‘is,’ which state court has jurisdiction‘ ‘ I over lsabella’s Moms, Vermont ‘or '- Virginia? The prospects of getting,- an answer anytime soon are fading fast, despite the most recent devel- opments: .a hearing before the . ' Vermont "Supreme Court on September 7, and an appeals court hearing in Virginia on September; 14. V The facts of the case are as fol- lows: Janet Jenkins and. Lisa ‘Miller met,’fell in love, and traveled from their home in Virginia to Vermont. in 2000 to legalize their relation- ship with a civil union. The Miller- Jenkinses then went home to Virginia. Lisa and Janet decided to start a family, and Lisa conceived through artificial insemination. Isabella was born. The two women , moved to Vermont when she was four months old. Within a year or ,3‘ .T so, Lisaipetitioned Vermont’s Family Court to dissolve the civil union and grant her custody of Isabella with visitation for Janet. Her petition was granted. Lisa then moved to Virginia and asked the Virginia court to declare her ‘lsabella’s sole parent on the basis of her being the child’s biological mother. Her request was granted. Janet hasn’t seen Isabella since. Legal Arguments There’s plenty of drama. Both sides have enlisted the help of national agencies with political agendas: for Lisa, the Florida- based Liberty Counsel, most well known for its attempts to-shut down the San Francisco gay and lesbian marriages in February and March 2004; for Janet, Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders in Vermont and Lambda Legal and the ACLU in Virginia. Liberty Counsel’s Rena Lindevaldsen made two basic argu- ments before the Vermont Supreme Court. First, she argued that the Miller-Jenkins civil union was never valid. Vermont, she rea- soned, has an evasion law for mar- riages, which (as in Massachusetts) says that if a marriage is illegal in the home state of the participants, it is illegal here. And since the civil union law was written to incorporate all the rights, responsi- bilities and obligations of Vermont’s marriage laws, the eva- sion law should apply. Virginia’s VT gvs. VA Battle Continues legislature has passed several laws . designed to prevcnrthe state’s recognition of any same-sex rela- ' tionship, regardless of its legality elsewhere. 1 Justice John Dooley raised an " eyebrow and suggested that a lot of people -would be very surprised if the court accepted that argument, since the majority of civil unions 2 _ performed in/the last five years have been foriout-of-state couples. Chief Justice Paul Reiber, who ;(with newly installed Justice Brian 7 Burns) was not on the court when the Baker v. State ruling was issued, suggested that Lisa Miller..- . had forfeited her right to make that argument when she petitioned a Vermont court to dissolve the union. “So you invented this argu- ment?” Dooley asked Lindevaldsen, noting‘ that it had not previously been raised. She agreed. ». g ' , -_ _'_I'he;second argument Lisa’s lawyers raised was that even if the civil union was valid, Vermont law did not presume that Janet was a legal parent to Isabella. Since Janet has no biological link to Isabella (artificial insemination), and she did not file for a second-parent adoption, the argument went, the court should not recognize her right to be considered a legal parent. The justices raised several points regarding such a ru1ing’s effect on mixed-gender couples who have children through artifi- cial insemination.‘ GLAD attorney Jennifer Levi faced far fewer questions as she argued that Vermont law presumes that the partners in a civil union are the legal parents of any child born within the civil union. She also cited federal law, the Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act, which prohibits parents with custody issues from taking children to v ‘another jurisdiction for a more favorable ruling. It establishes the precedence of the first state where- in an action is filed. Even before the red light on the appellants’ lectem had come on, Levi had finished her argu- ment, and the audience of lawyers, legislators, and media stood as the justices filed out. Similar arguments were aired before the Virginia Court of Appeals a week later, by slightly different teams of lawyers, although it was also suggested that the federal DOMA might overrule the Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act. lmpressing the Press At the press gaggle shepherded by Kevin Blier of Vermont Renewal, Lindevaldsen and local lawyer Judy Barone of Rutland pushed hard on the second-parent adoption issue, Lindevaldsen framing their arguments as just trying to “estab- lish stability for children” and “equality to marriage” for civil union couples. But Barone insisted with some vehemence that the case was about “just who we allow to be parents in this state.” Lindevaldsen refused to predict the court’s ruling, but said they would keep appealing until there was no recourse. Generally, when states are deadlocked over an issue, it is the U.S. Supreme Court’s job to resolve it. Janet Miller-Jenkins, who had been in the.courtr_oom-, readta _brief;'; statement: “Although I-have alot I would like to say, I don’t think it serves my daughter well to air this case through the media. I sincerely believe it is best for my daughter that both of her parents continue to be an active, loving, responsible part of her life.” GLAD’s Jennifer Levi was upbeat about Janet’s chances here and reiterated her arguments, adding that Janet had accompanied Lisa to all her doctor appointments, was present at lsabella’s birth, and cut the umbili- cal cord. . . Asked whether this case was a poster child for why Vermont needs marriage equality, Levi smiled and said, “It depends on ‘how it comes out.” Then she sug- gested that the same issues would arise regardless of whether the same-sex relationship was 21 mar- riage or a civil union. Life Outside the courtroom Janet, 40, and Lisa, 37, both run childcare centers, Janet’s in Fairhaven, Vermont, Lisa’s in Winchester, Virginia. In an inter- view with the Vlrginian-Pilot, Lisa said it was a visit to her brother‘s church that made her seek to strip Janet of parental rights and leave the “homosexual lifestyle" with a “clean slate." Meanwhile, Isabella, now three years old, will be without her other mother until the case is resolved. and it doesn’t look like that will happen any time soon. V