UTAH JUDGE SAYS GIRL BETTER OFF WITH TWO MOTHERS: From the Scripps Howard News Service

After considering Utah law and the best interests of a 3-year-old girl, 3rd District Judge Timothy Hanson has decided the child is better off with two mothers.

One is her birth mother, who conceived her through artificial insemination while in a lesbian relationship. The other is the birth mother's former partner, joined to her in a Vermont civil union before the girl's birth. ...

But Hanson has said the case does not turn on the debate over gay marriage or gay adoption.

"What this case is about, is whether or not a child is better off in this rather uncertain world, with as many people as possible taking an interest in the child, both financially and emotionally," the judge said in an October court hearing. ...

Cheryl Pike Barlow, the girl's birth mother, wants the appellate court to overturn the visitation order. In court filings, Barlow says she is no longer a lesbian and now has religious objections to exposing her daughter to her former partner. ...

Judge Hanson had ruled in October that Jones would be eligible for visitation if she could establish she had a parent-child relationship with the girl. He cited Utah case law on the doctrine of "in loco parentis," in which a person acts as a parent although they have no blood or legal ties to a child.

Hanson pointed to a 1978 Utah Supreme Court ruling that supported a stepfather's bid to seek visitation. ...

Jones participated in the child's birth and care, and became a co-guardian of the girl, who had the surnames of both women on her birth certificate, the judge said.

Attorney Frank Mylar, who is affiliated with the Alliance Defense Fund and represents Barlow, says Hanson has done an end-run around Utah laws. Mylar said in loco parentis only applies to cases where the parent is absent from the child's life.

"Where does it end, when you have a legal stranger that is not related by blood, marriage or adoption, and they are claiming rights to your child?" he asked. "Anyone who is a fit parent has a constitutional right to say how their child is to be raised, and what associations they are to have."

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posted by Eve at 4:50 AM VOTE

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