Vermont Court Set To Hear Child Custody Dispute Between Former Lesbian Partners

By Christina Rentz

Published on August 17, 2005

Lisa and Janet Miller-Jenkins are former lesbian partners who were registered under the Vermont civil union laws.

When the two women decided they wanted to have a family, Lisa conceived and gave birth to a girl by means of artificial insemination. The girl is now three years old.

The two women eventually broke up and Janet was awarded temporary visitation rights by a Vermont family court judge.

Shortly after the court's ruling, Lisa moved her daughter to Virginia, a state with some of the strongest anti-gay legislation in the entire country. In Virginia, she sought full custody of her daughter. Virginia judge John R. Prosser ruled that Lisa was the sole parent of her daughter and her former partner had no parental rights.

However, last November, a Vermont judge ruled that, because the couple had been registered under Vermont's civil union law at the time of the girl's birth, Janet was also the girl's legal parent. The judge also ruled that Lisa had violated the child custody agreement by fleeing with her daughter to Virginia.

Lisa has petitioned the Vermont Supreme Court to vacate the lower court's ruling. The Vermont Supreme Court will hear the case on September 7.

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