Lesbian 'Psychological Parent' Victorious in West Va. Custody Battle
by Ed Thomas
June 22, 2005
(AgapePress) - West Virginia's Supreme Court of Appeals has granted custody of a minor to his deceased mother's former lesbian partner, leading one attorney in the case to accuse the court of making state law rather than ruling from it.
The minor child has lived with his grandparents for three years since his mother's fatal accident. Despite that, the court ruled that his mother's former lesbian partner, Tina B., had a stronger connection -- and entitlement -- as a "psychological parent." Steve Crampton, chief counsel for the American Family Association's Center for Law & Policy, wrote a friend-of-the-court brief in the case. Crampton says there was no will or written agreement on custody, and there was no state law that explicitly authorized the ruling.
"For a three-year period, the child has been with his grandparents. So if you just weigh timelines, I think the grandparents should win," Crampton offers. "But the court blew through the grandparents' interests and their rights, frankly, in order to establish this lesbian partner as the so-called 'psychological parent' here."
In his opinion, Crampton feels the court really made its own law instead of interpreting West Virginia's existing law. And since there was no will, the attorney believes the judges took advantage of a loophole that leaves the matter of same-sex parenting as an open question for case-by-case interpretation.
"This court took the opportunity to drive their truck through the loophole which the legislature left, and [to] establish new law that I believe decimates the traditional family and elevates same-sex parenting and custody to a new level previously unknown in that state," he states.
Crampton says there will not likely be an appeal because there are no national implications that would make it feasible for arguments to the U.S. Supreme Court. In the meantime, he strongly urges West Virginia residents to direct their lawmakers to craft legislation that would close the loophole in state law that allowed the state court to interpret in favor of the former lesbian partner. The attorney warns that the state's creation of this new "right" to homosexual adoption is "but a stepping stone to recognition of same-sex marriage."
Ed Thomas, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
