Subject: Lambda Applauds Brooklyn Family Court Order
From: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 6 Nov 1995 14:00:09 -0500

Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund
Press Release
October 27, 1995

Contact: Suzanne B. Goldberg  212-995-8585

Brooklyn Family Court Orders Lesbian Appointed as Guardian of Child Born to
Her Partner
	
	(October 27, 1995, New York) Lambda applauds a decision concerning
guardianship of a nearly four-year old child, known as A., whose biological
mother died less than a month after giving birth.  A Brooklyn family court
conferred guardianship upon Sofia D.,who was A's mother's lesbian partner.
 In her ruling, dated October 24, 1995, Judge Betty Staton recognized that
Ms. D's sexual orientation "is not determinative of her fitness to be [the
child's] guardian." 
	"This case represents an important first step for lesbian and gay families
in New York because the court granted guardianship to a lesbian who had
planned to raise a child together with the child's biological mother before
the biological mother's tragic death, and in doing so, rejected custody
petitions by distant relatives" said Lambda staff attorney Suzanne B.
Goldberg.
	In determining the child's best interests, the court cited the testimony of
the child's biological grandmother confirming that her deceased daughter and
Ms. D. had intended to co-parent the child together.  The court also
recognized that "[t]he only person here who has always been a stable, loving
presence in [the child's] life from the time he was born is Sofia D."
	In this hotly contested dispute, several others, including the biological
mother's estranged husband who had since married another woman, the estranged
husband's mother, the putative biological father, and the child's maternal
grandmother, all filed petitions seeking custody of A.  After the biological
father failed to appear in court and the maternal grandmother withdrew her
petition because she favored Sofia D.'s obtaining custody, the court had to
decide among the remaining three.
	Responding to the assertion by the estranged husband and his mother that
they should have custody of A. because they, like the child, are black and
the non-biological mother is white, the court reasoned that, based on the
facts of the case, "race is simply one of many factors to be considered in
determining custody."
		"The court's ruling reflects the reality, which is increasingly recognized
by courts around the country, that sexual orientation is unrelated to
parenting ability," added Goldberg.

Susan L Bender, a private practitioner based in Manhattan, represents Sofia
D.  Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund filed an amicus brief in the
case.