Monday, July 16, 2007

Good news in Oregon

An Oregon judge ruled that two laws related to parental rights violated the rights of gay and lesbian parents:
Jeana Frazzini and Kristin Parman had a son four years ago through artificial insemination but the child's birth certificate only listed Parman, the child's biological mother. Frazzini's name was crossed out.

Under one of the Oregon laws being challenged, a husband and wife are presumed to be the parents of a child born into a marriage, even if one is not the biological parent. Under the second law, the relationship between a child born as a result of artificial insemination and the husband is considered to be the same as if the husband was the biological father as long as the husband consented to the artificial insemination.

Frazzini and Parman filed suit a year ago, saying that earlier court decisions had found that denying a same-sex couple -- who is not allowed to marry legally -- the same benefits as a heterosexual couple was illegal discrimination under the Oregon constitution.

However, the judge said that Oregon's new domestic partnership law would fix the problem.

No comments: