Gay father will
get his day in court

A gay father should be given a chance to present evidence that his son was harmed by a Virginia court ruling that he would have to give up custody of the boy unless his partner moved out of the house, the Maryland court of appeals ruled. The state's second highest court reversed a Montgomery County, Md., circuit court judge's decision to dismiss the complaint by the father, Ulf Hedberg, without giving his lawyers a chance to present evidence. In a ruling issued Monday, the appeals court sent the case back to the circuit court for a full hearing. "The father is now given his day in court to show why the restriction...has been hurting the child and should be modified," said Susan Sommer, a Lambda Legal lawyer who helped represent Hedberg in the appeals court. "The [appeals] court concluded that the father had presented...a number of facts showing that the child was only being hurt by having the longtime partner restricted from living in the family home." The case was dismissed in circuit court on a motion for summary judgment, but the appeals court ruled that Hedberg should be given a full evidentiary hearing, she said Thursday. Hedberg and his partner, Blaise Delahoussaye, lived in Virginia with the boy, now 12, for 5 1/2 years before an Alexandria, Va., judge ruled that the two men could not live together if Hedberg was to continue to have custodial care of his son. Hedberg then moved to Montgomery County, where he rented an apartment because he could not afford to maintain the house in Virginia without a second income. Delahoussaye also moved to Montgomery County to be near Hedberg and his son. Sue Silber, a lawyer who will represent Hedberg when the case returns to circuit court, said the new ruling means that Hedberg will be able "to show that it's in the best interest of this child for the gentleman to be able to move back into his home, to have the family reunited. We will show there is good reason for the court to allow the family to live together." Lawyers for Annica Detthow, the mother, could appeal the new ruling to the court of appeals, but the case probably will go directly back to circuit court, said Mathew Staver, president and general counsel of Liberty Counsel, a national antigay legal group that he said "defends traditional families and marriage." Liberty Counsel represented the mother in the appeals court. "During that process we fully expect that we will prevail," Staver said. "We believe the facts will show that the best interests of the child dictate that the child not be exposed to homosexual parents or homosexual activity." But Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said Maryland is among the great majority of states that do not place restrictions on gay couples having custody of children. (AP)