Subject: Lesbian Couples Win Adoption Case
From: [email-masked]
Date: Thu, 24 Aug 1995 18:48:15 -0400

LAMBDA LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATION FUND
Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, Thursday, August 24, 1995

Lesbian Couples Win Final Victory in Adoption Case

(CHICAGO, August 24, 1995) -- Following a year long legal battle that
resulted in a precedent-setting ruling last month, two lesbian couples
seeking to adopt their children were granted their petition today by a Cook
County judge.

"We are extremely pleased that the court has legally recognized that the
children's best interests are served by the adoptions,"  said Patricia Logue,
managing attorney of Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, which
represents one of the lesbian couples. "This is a historic moment in Illinois
and a great relief to our clients."

"Our clients, Kathy and Mary, are loving committed parents,"  said Harvey
Grossman, legal director of the ACLU of Illinois. "Today's decision provides
legal recognition of that truth. This swift and just ruling secures the right
of children in all families to be treated equally by the court."

Cook County Associate Judge Marjan Staniec, in a written order entered after
40 minutes of oral argument, said,  "[I]t is fit and proper and for the best
interest of the minor sought to be adopted that... the Petition for the
Adoption be granted.  It is therefore ordered that from this date, [the
children] shall be to all legal intent and purposes the child of the
petitioners,... the same as if [they] had been born to the petitioners in
lawful wedlock."

The judgment order follows an Illinois Appellate Court ruling in July which
held--for the first time--that unmarried couples, including gays and
lesbians, have the same adoption rights as married and single parents under
Illinois law.  The appellate court ruling, which covers trials courts across
the entire state, reversed a decision by Judge Staniec last December, who
initially denied the adoption on legal grounds.

The appellate court sent the case back down to the Cook County court in order
to determine if the adoption bids were in the children's  best interest,  the
paramount concern in all adoption proceedings.

The lesbian couple in one of the cases,  "Kay" and "Deb,"  seeks to adopt
jointly their three-year old daughter,  Olivia M.,  whom Kay conceived via
anonymous donor insemination.  The couple, represented by Lambda, live in
Cook County and have shared responsibility for Olivia since birth.  They seek
the joint adoption to secure a legal relationship between Olivia M. and Deb,
without also disturbing the parental rights of Kay, the biological mother.

The other case, brought by the ACLU of Illinois, involves another lesbian
couple, "Kathy"  and "Mary," who are seeking the joint adoption of Kathy's
two children.  One child was conceived via donor insemination, the other
child was adopted.

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Contact: Denny Lee,  Media Relations, (212) 995-8585