Lesbian Parents in the US Should Not Need to Adopt Their Own Children

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

When the US Supreme Court overturned the landmark abortion rights case Roe v. Wade on June 24, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people across the United States were horrified to learn that, in addition to having protection of key reproductive rights rolled back, their marriages and relationships could be next. In his concurring opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas suggested the Court reconsider past rulings enshrining constitutional rights to contraception and same-sex marriage and relationships.

The case of a lesbian mother in Oklahoma fighting for legal parenthood of her child demonstrates what happens when states get to decide which rights queer people deserve. In January 2022, an Oklahoma court removed Kris Williams from her child’s birth certificate, replacing it with the name of the sperm donor, who is now petitioning for custody of Williams’ son.

Williams and her wife Rebekah Wilson conceived their child in 2019, and her wife gave birth. When the couple filed for divorce two years later, Wilson petitioned the court to remove Williams from the birth certificate. The judge ruled in favor, stating that as the non-gestational mother, Williams had “failed to pursue a legal remedy to establish parental rights.” According to the judge, Williams should have adopted her own son. The court will rule on legal parentage at an August hearing.

Supreme Court rulings in 2015 and 2017 afforded same-sex couples the same parental rights and responsibilities as different-sex couples. The Oklahoma court’s assertions in Williams’ case deny her the rights granted to married different-sex couples. The case highlights the persistent precarity of legal parenthood for lesbians, particularly those who do not give birth to their children.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/06/30/lesbian-parents-us-should-not-need-adopt-their-own-children

[Martin68]

1. Agreed. Just another sign that the GOP considers women to be second class citizens who have no

rights when it comes to their own child.

[IngridsLittleAngel]

2. I fear if given the chance, the ECOTUS will declare it illegal for LGBTQ's to even have kids at all

I would hope it would not come to that, especially since overturning Roe is going to create a country where there are even more kids in need of being adopted. But with what Coke Can Clarence has said he wants to overturn next? How long until they declare it illegal for LGBTQ's to even have kids, forcing their kids to wind up in the system as well?