Update- We have a special guest with us today, Florida4Obama's nephew, who was recently outed and moved in with her, has joined us for some TLC. Please offer your support and/or words of wisdom. Thanks.
When many people think of reproductive freedom, they think of abortion... maybe birth control. Not everyone immediately thinks of GLBTs...the reproductive challenges that we face are in many ways different, but are the same in the ways that matter. We face the abrogation of our free will by politicians and those who would impose their morals upon us. Also, we have the additional problem of a lack of recognition for our relationships that can further complicate the parenting process...to me, all of these are issues of reproductive freedom.
I wrote about this in a SheKos diary but wanted to expand that discussion into a full diary.
In Ireland, the Supreme Court recently granted de facto parental rights to the sperm donor to a lesbian couple.
At the time of his contribution, he apparently did not express any desire to retain parental rights. Instead, he was to be a favored "uncle" -- without any formal privileges or responsibilities. Later, after his friendship with the child's mothers deteriorated, he changed his mind. When the women attempted to move to Australia with their now three-year-old son, the sperm donor sued and obtained an injunction to keep the child in the country while he fought for his alleged rights as a biological parent.
[The] Court has ruled that a gay man who donated his sperm to a lesbian couple who decided to move to Australia should be permitted to see his three-year-old son regularly, in part because Ireland's constitution does not recognise the lesbians as a valid family unit.
* * *
In her written judgment delivered on Thursday, Justice Susan Denham said the lesbian couple provided a loving, stable home for their son, but the constitution defined parents as a married man and woman, and gays were not permitted to marry in Ireland.
linky
So, not only can you not get married, but you will then be punished for not being married! Not that that's discrimination or anything...
Lest you think that America is far safer for same-sex parents (or want-to-be parents)...one need only look to the Texas case of Ward v. Ward. In that case, a child was taken away from a single lesbian mother and placed in the custody of the father...a man convicted of second degree murder in the death of his first wife. In explaining the ruling, the judge stated that it was important that the child grow up in a "non-lesbian world."
Before the vote on Prop. 8, I wrote a diary for WGLB called But, Think of the Children! about the devastation that the lack of relationship recognition can cause for same-sex parents...but I discovered more problems in researching today's diary. For example, a transman in Florida married a woman, adopted her child and the couple had a second child by artificial insemination during their 10-year marriage. Unfortunately, the marriage didn't last and the couple ended up in a divorce and custody battle. While the custody evaluator found that the father would provide a better parental home for the children, the case quickly became about the genetalia that he had at birth. The mother claimed that the father was in fact a woman under Florida law and, as such, his adoption of her first child was invalid and he was a legal stranger to the second child. (And, BTW, how f*cking evil do you have to be to do that to your kids?)
Because of this argument, the father was subjected to
a three-and-a-half-week trial televised on Court TV, Michael [the father] and other witnesses were grilled about the appearance of Michael's body, the shape and size of his genitalia, his sexual capacities and practices, his ability to urinate standing up, and the details of his medical diagnosis and treatment as a transsexual person.
Fortunately, this case had a happy outcome...unfortunately, a similar case in Chicago did not. You can find more info about this case here.
If you are aware of other issues of reproductive rights for GLBTs or have experienced any yourself, please share them in the comments.
Diary contributed by KentuckKat.
*************************************************************************************
Have you signed our petition to encourage the World Cup organizers to honor Eudy Simelane and all of the South African women who have suffered "corrective rape" at the hands of homophobic thugs? The 2010 FIFA World Cup is being held in South Africa and Eudy was raped and murdered in part for her love of the game of soccer/football and in part for her living an open life as a lesbian. We're only at 131 signers to date. PLEASE take a second and add your voice!
*************************************************************************************
Each week between now and the end of March we will add a poll to the end of each diary for you to select your favorite GLBT candidate or ally running for office. The five winners will be added to our ActBlue fundraising page. The leaders each week will be removed from further polling and guaranteed a spot on our page. Last week NY Senator Kirsten Gillibrand was chosen with 33 out of a total of 78 votes. If you have preferred candidates not seen on the lists, suggest them in the discussion below and we'll add them at a future date. Not only will we consider GLBT friendly candidates but also folks running to replace established homophobes. Thanks.