Wednesday, August 21, 2002
Pennsylvania high court favors domestic partner adoptions
A story published today by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled yesterday in favor of allowing gay and lesbian adoptions.
The court, in a 6-0 decision with one justice abstaining, found that one partner in a gay or lesbian relationship can adopt a child without the need for the other partner to give up parental rights.
Previously, a parent would have had to give up rights to the child for the adoption to proceed.
The decision means children in gay and lesbian families can now qualify for health insurance, inheritances and other benefits that they did not get before.
"Spiritually, in our minds, Payton's always had two mommies," said Amy Kern, 31, a professor of graphic design at the Art Institute. "I didn't feel like she was missing anything, but that support and that acknowledgment that there's a legal system that's going to protect her rights and our rights as a family is very important."
Dana, 35, a painter, and Amy have been partners for six years. Amy felt the court ruling was a legal recognition of them as a couple and as parents.
"It's something that I commonly thought about simply because having the rule [against gay and lesbian adoptions] put the pre-conceived notion in people's minds that it was wrong to have same-sex adoption in the first place," she said.
Amy has legal guardianship of the couple's daughter. She plans to adopt both Payton and the couple's second child.
