Court lets stand lesbian's rights as parent
A landmark state Supreme Court ruling that a Seattle woman can seek parental rights to a girl she helped raise with her lesbian partner will stand now that the nation's highest court won't intervene.
On Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to consider the case of Mian Carvin and Page Britain, who conceived a child through artificial insemination and later separated.
The case created a new way that people can be considered parents in Washington when state justices ruled last November that Carvin could try to prove she was a "de facto" parent to the child.
Carvin and attorneys at the Northwest Women's Law Center, who argued her case, were pleased people in her situation won't automatically be shut out of the children's lives.
"Family law issues are generally left to the province of the states," said Nancy Sapiro, an attorney at the law center. "It's not surprising that the U.S. Supreme Court recognized that."
She said the issue was not simply about gay rights but a broader effort "to make our state family laws relevant to the way families look today."
Carvin was thrilled the court let the state ruling stand, she said through her lawyers.
But Britain's attorneys said Britain and all other fit, biological parents should be able to decide who should be a part of their children's lives.
They argued that the Washington ruling opened the door for all kinds of people -- from live-in boyfriends to roommates -- to claim parental rights.
"Under the court's ruling, a child could have an unlimited number of parents," said Britain's Seattle attorney, Kristen Waggoner.
She said judges in more than 30 states have reached inconsistent conclusions on the issue.
"I think it's inevitable the Supreme Court is going to take one of these cases," said Jordan Lorence, who represented Britain for the Alliance Defense Fund. "There is nothing that says family law is exempt from federal constitutional scrutiny."
Carvin and Britain were in a long-term relationship when they decided in 1994 to have Britain artificially inseminated. They agreed that Britain would work while Carvin stayed home to care for the little girl.
The women broke up when the girl was 6, and Britain no longer wanted Carvin to be a part of the child's life.
Britain ended up marrying the sperm donor, a man identified in court documents as a gay friend now teaching in Thailand.
It's unclear what will happen next. Child-custody proceedings typically are confidential.
The state Supreme Court ruled in November that Carvin could try to prove she is a "de facto" parent by showing, among other things, that she had bonded with the girl.
But Britain and the girl recently joined Britain's husband in Thailand, and they "are committed to raising their daughter as a family," Waggoner said.
"There will not be a trial on Mian's rights as a parent. The parties have reached an agreement," she said, declining to elaborate.
Attorney Janet Helson, one of Carvin's attorneys, said she also could not discuss the status of the case but said Carvin still talks with the girl weekly by phone.
