CUSTODY CASE PUTS VA. LAW ON TRIAL: From the Washington Blade

... In 2000, the Northern Virginia natives exchanged vows in a Vermont civil union, gave birth and moved to the progressive New England state for its greater range of gay legal protections.

Four years later, the Miller-Jenkins family is entangled in a bitter custody battle over Isabella, their 2-year-old daughter, in a case that could test the feasibility of interstate marriage laws, and particularly Virginia’s newly enacted -- and extremely stringent -- civil union ban.

On Aug. 24, Frederick County Court Judge John Prosser will decide whether a Virginia court has jurisdiction to grant full custody of Isabella to Lisa, her biological mother who has moved back to Virginia, over a Vermont decree granting co-parental status and visitation rights to Janet.

Lawyers on both sides said that while the Vermont court will most likely retain its authority, Virginia could enforce its civil union ban, the Marriage Affirmation Act, which does not permit recognition of civil unions and nullifies other legal agreements that mirror marriage.

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