Apr 10, 2009 2:11 pm US/Eastern
NY Appeals Court Denies Parental Rights To Lesbian
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
A New York state appeals court has ruled that a lesbian whose partner gave birth to a boy after their Vermont civil union has no parental rights because she never legally adopted the child.
The Appellate Division denied the petition by Debra H. for joint legal and physical custody after she and Janice R. broke up.
The court said Debra H. lacked parental rights although the now-5-year-old boy was born a month after the Vermont civil union and two months after the women registered as domestic partners in New York City.
Debra H.'s lawyer Bonnie Rabin said the child thinks of her client as one of his mothers and seeing her is in his best interest. Rabin said she intends to appeal.
Vermont has permitted eligible couples of the same sex to be joined in civil union since July 2000.
(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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