Archive for adoption
It’s Always the Gays
In a lengthy and some respects informative piece in the National Review, Heather MacDonald expresses concern that allowing same-sex marriages will further the erosion of the link between biology and parenting. Notwithstanding its merits as a review of the transformations wrought by the recent availability of assisted reproduction, though, the article reduces to a familiar [...]
Another Conversation Not to Have
Here’s a fool-proof plan for spoiling an otherwise-delightful dinner with friends: Talk about the various ways one might build a family.
This I learned recently, after getting into a surprisingly heated exchange with a couple that we count among our very closest friends. I was reminded that everyone has very strong opinions, not only about how they’ve [...]
Valuing a Child’s Best Interest? (Part Two)
A same-sex couple who adopted a boy in New York State were told by a Louisiana official that they couldn’t have the kid’s birth certificate amended to reflect who his legal parents are. (The child had been born in Louisiana.) Unless that happens, though, the child can’t be added to one of the parents’ health [...]
The Perry Case: If This is the Evidence They’re After, No Worries
Judge Vaughn Walker isn’t fooling around. Today, in the case challenging the constitutionality of Proposition 8 (Perry v. Schwarzenegger), he rejected requests by both various LGBT advocacy groups and a pro-Prop 8 group to intervene in the litigation. Law Dork has a typically clear summary of the ruling here. The judge also appears to have [...]
Adoption, Fostering, and Gay Couples
This article will appear in tomorrow’s NY Times Magazine. It describes the loving home of a lesbian couple who’d taken in many foster children, but who found that their efforts to adopt a baby were less charitably viewed by the child’s court-appointed attorneys, the judge hearing the case, and the skittish child welfare department.
In many [...]
Dysfunctional Families in Fact and Fiction (and Marriage Equality)
Three events coincided yesterday, giving me occasion to reflect on “family” in all of its glorious and sorrowful messiness.
A friend and I had long discussed going to see August: Osage County on Broadway. Of course, it took the news of its imminent closing to get me to actually go. On the train going up to [...]
Equality Forum Day 3 (Part 2): It’s Always Personal
Family Law is an exciting yet weird course to teach. The law school model (now admittedly under both siege and reconstruction) emphasizes legal reasoning and analysis, the parsing of cases and statutes, and the occasional foray into broader constitutional issues. Of course, very few legal scholars or students today think that a legal result can [...]
Comments Welcome
It turns out (to my surprise) that no one was able to comment on posts until just recently. Now you can do so without logging in.1 The comment feature just “went live” and already there are several provocative comments; feel free to join in (or not).
This may also be a good time to pause briefly [...]
A Public De-Friending
As someone new to Facebook and not entirely convinced by it (although there’s something strangely compelling about it), I only recently learned about the phenomenon of “de-friending.” It occurred to me that it would take a great deal for me to de-friend someone. I mean, I wouldn’t do it just because I realized that I [...]
Down Payment on Demolition
I recently promised to end the career of anti-marriage-equality columnist Maggie Gallagher. As you can tell from this summary of her impressive accomplishments, this would constitute no small task (others have tried). It’s not exactly a fair fight, since I have no public career for her to reciprocally destroy.
Let me begin by saying that I’m [...]