Out in the Mountains

New Mexico Court

Reverses National Trend

In a decision that moves away from a re-
liance on antiquated definitions of func-
tional families and reverses other court rul-
ings, the New Mexico Court of Appeals
ruled that a non-biological lesbian mother
may be entitled to seek custody or visitation
with the child she raised with her fonner
partner of 14 years. This is the first appellate
victory in the United States in favor of rec-
ognizing a legal relationship between a non-
biological lesbian parent and a child con-
ceived through donor insemination. The
New Mexico court ruled that a parent “may
enter into an agreement with another person
concerning the custody of a child,” in-
cluding persons who are not biologically re-
lated to the child, and specifically held that
“sexual orientation, standing alone, is not a
permissible basis for the denial of shared
custody or visitation.”

The ruling was issued in a custody/
visitation dispute between two women who
had lived together for fourteen years and
shared parental responsibility for their sev-
en-year—old child, who was bom by al-
ternative insemination. The non-biological
co-parent sued for visitation rights after the
biological parent refused contact between
her fonner partner and their child.

The suit initially filed by the non-biological
co-parent was withdrawn when the bio-
logical mother agreed in settlement nego-
tiations to allow visitation. When that agree-
ment was not honored, the co-parent moved
to have her lawsuit reopened, at which point
the lower court dismissed her claims, with-

1
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I
I

Name

By subscribing now to OITM, not onl
mailbox (in a discreet envelope, of c
write the rising costs of publishing the newspaper. We also welcome any
additional contributions you can make to

istence. Checks should be made payable to
this form, to: OITM, P.O. Box 177, Burlington, Vermont 05402.

out giving a hearing, ruling that, based on
past New Mexico law, a non-biological par-
ty could not sue for visitation.

In refuting the lower court ruling, the Court
of Appeals noted that “a determination of
the best interests of the child must be made
on the basis of evidence before the court”
and that the lower court “erred in con-
cluding that this type of agreement is un-
enforceable as a matter of law.”

“This brave and rational ruling by the New
Mexico Court of Appeals is a tremendous
validation of lesbian and gay families,”
commented Paula Ettelbrick, Lambda Le-
gal Defense Fund Legal Director. “The
Court specifically refused to follow other
state courts which are stuck in the view that
‘family’ only takes one form, which does
not include lesbians and gay men. We are
very hopeful that this case will reverse the
trend of decisions that failed to recognize
our families.”

The Court of Appeals nrling compels the
lower court to reopen the non-biological co-
parent’s case and give her a hearing, at
which she can present her facts and ev-
idence of her relationship with the child and
the couple’s intention that they would both
be parents to the child V

Read
Out In The Mountains
Monthly

y will you guarantee delivery to your
ourse), but you will also help under-

support our continuing ex-
OITM and sent, along with

Address

City

F"""‘"""""""""""_

State Zip

Cl One-year ($20) El Low-income ($10) D Sponsor ($_:__)

Sponsors are especially welcome from those who prefer to pick up OITM at one
of the paper's distribution points rather than be added to the mailing list.

0 Please also let us know if you'd like to get involved in the newspaper.

A-92