AZ Supreme Court to rule on same-sex child parental rights

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The Arizona Supreme Court has agreed to review the case of a same-sex spouse who was granted parental rights over her ex-wife’s biological child.

In October, the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled Suzan McLaughlin was entitled to the same parental rights as if she were a man after her wife Kimberly McLaughlin became pregnant through artificial insemination and gave birth to a son.

The couple had entered into a joint parenting agreement and declared they were equal parents in mirrored wills. But when their son was nearly 2, Kimberly McLaughlin moved out of their home, taking the boy with her and cutting off contact with Suzan McLaughlin.

She filed for divorce and parenting time, and a trial judge cleared the case to proceed. But Kimberly McLaughlin appealed, arguing Suzan McLaughlin was not a “parent” as defined by state law.

The appellate court judges disagreed with Kimberly McLaughlin’s arguments that laws determining who is legally presumed the parent of a child only apply when that other person is male. Arizona law says a man is presumed to be the father of a child if he and the mother were married at any time within 10 months immediately preceding the birth. However, Judge Philip Espinosa said Kimberly McLaughlin’s argument undermines the 2014 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that entitled same-sex marriages the same legal protections as heterosexual couples.

Read more at AZ Capitol Times

Corrie O'Connor