N.J. high court says lesbian has

visitation rights after split

By Ralph Siegel, Associated Press, 4/7/2000

RENTON, N.J. - The New Jersey Supreme Court ruled

yesterday that a lesbian who helped raise her then-partner's

twins has rights akin to a parent's and can have visitation now

that the two are no longer together.

The case involved a woman who became pregnant by artificial

insemination and gave birth to twins in 1994 that she and her

lesbian partner, identified only as V.C., raised together for two

years.

After their 1996 separation, a trial court denied V.C. joint custody

and visitation. An appellate court gave her visitation rights but not

joint custody.

In yesterday's unanimous ruling, the high court also turned down

V.C.'s request for joint legal custody - which would have given

her a say regarding decisions on the children's upbringing -

because she has not been involved in their lives for four years.

''To interject her into the decisional realm at this point would be

unnecessarily disruptive for all involved,'' said Associate Justice

Virginia Long.

But Long, writing for the full court, said V.C. carries the status of a

''psychological parent'' to the children and has a right to share

parenting duties, despite the objections of the birth mother,

identified only as M.J.B.

V.C. should have regular visitation with the children, as is typical

for many divorced parents, the court said.

''Under the statute, V.C. and M.J.B. are essentially equal,'' Long

wrote. ''Each appears to be a fully capable, loving parent

committed to the safety and welfare of the twins.''

The New York-based Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund,

which litigates for the rights of gays and lesbians, joined in the

New Jersey case.

Lambda legal director Beatrice Dohrn hailed the decision as

among the first ''to recognize this important need to recognize the

importance of lesbian or gay parents when both parents are not

directly related to the child.''

The ruling is similar to a 1995 ruling by the Wisconsin Supreme

Court, said Ruth Harlow, also with the Lambda group.

The Wisconsin court ordered a lower court to reconsider its

decision to turn down a woman's request for visits with the son of

her former lesbian partner. If a parent lets another adult establish

a parent-like relationship with a child, the court said, it may not be

in the child's best interest for the parent to later cut off that

relationship.

This story ran on page A11 of the Boston Globe on 4/7/2000.

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