Virginia's
highest court ruled Friday that the state must enforce a
Vermont court order awarding child visitation rights to a
mother's lesbian former partner.
The Virginia
supreme court rejected Lisa Miller's claim that a lower
court improperly ignored a Virginia law and a state
constitutional amendment that prohibit same-sex unions
and the recognition of such arrangements from other
states.
The ruling was a
victory for Janet Jenkins, who has been fighting for
visitation rights since the dissolution of the civil union
she and Miller obtained in Vermont in 2000. In 2002,
Miller gave birth to the daughter, Isabella, who now
is at the center of a legal battle closely watched by
national conservative and gay rights groups.
Miller renounced
homosexuality and moved back to Virginia with the child
after the couple split, and she has fought Jenkins's
visitation efforts. However, the Virginia supreme
court ruled that a federal law aimed at preventing
parents from crossing state lines to evade a custody ruling
requires Virginia to enforce Vermont's order.
"I'm relieved
that this tug-of-war with my daughter is over,"
Jenkins said in a statement released by the gay rights group
Lambda Legal. "This has been a very long four years.
My daughter and I need some time to be together. She
needs her other mom."
Miller's
attorney, Mathew Staver, said his client "has not lost her
courage or her resolve" and will pursue other legal options.
Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel and dean of the law
school at the late Reverend Jerry Falwell's Liberty
University, said he hopes in a new proceeding to
raise the issue of Virginia's constitutional amendment
banning same-sex unions.
Jenkins's
attorney, Joseph R. Price, said the decision "is fully
consistent with Virginia, Vermont, and federal law" on child
custody and visitation matters.
"More important,
the decision means that Isabella will have the support
of both her parents as she grows up, and that gay and
lesbian parents can expect that they will be treated
just like any other parents in a custody dispute,
regardless of their sexual orientation," he said.
The Virginia
court of appeals twice ruled in favor of Jenkins. Miller's
attorneys missed a deadline for appealing the first ruling
to the Virginia supreme court, so they filed a second
appeal on different grounds. The appellate court ruled
that the second case raised no new issues, and the
supreme court agreed. In 2006 the Vermont supreme court
also ruled in favor of Jenkins.
Miller's
supporters were encouraged by a concurring opinion written
by Virginia chief justice Leroy R. Hassell Jr., who
said he disagreed with the appeals court's first
decision but agreed the justices could not consider
the merits because the appeal was filed late.
"I see that as a
red flag practically begging the attorneys to go back
and file again because the issues at question were not
considered," said Matt Barber, policy director for cultural
issues for the conservative Concerned Women for
America. "It's a temporary setback, but it's not
over." (AP)
