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CLAY WOMAN IN CUSTODY BATTLE OVER SAME-SEX PARENTING |
| (12/10/2004) |
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A Clay County woman has ACLU support in her fight to keep custody of a boy she helped raise with her gay partner. The ACLU has filed a friend of the court brief with the state Supreme Court in the Tina Burch case. Burch's partner, mother of the four-year-old boy, was killed in a traffic accident. Since that time the grandparents of Burch's partner have been attempting to obtain custody. They currently have visitation rights. A lower court ruling said the four-year-old should be living with his grandparents, not Burch, although a previous ruling from a Family Court judge gave custody to Burch because she was deemed to be the psychological parent of the boy. The biological mother was Burch's partner, Christina Smarr. The custody battle began after Smarr was killed in a traffic accident. West Virginia ACLU spokeswoman Terri Baur says the case isn't about whether Burch is a good parent, but it's about whether a same-sex parent has the right to appear before the court and ask it to decide if she has any rights. Baur says a judge has violated Burch's rights to due process and equal protection. She says the ruling singles out a group of people - same-sex couples - and says they have no right to go to court and make their case about parental rights. Burch has current custody of the boy. The case will go before the state's Supreme Court next year.
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