Maryland's top court recognizes new rights for gay parents
Maryland's highest court has recognized new rights for separated gay parents in a ruling that acknowledged the law is struggling to keep pace with same-sex couples' changing status in society.
The Court of Appeals ruled Thursday that people who have raised children but do not have a biological or adoptive relationship with a child can still be recognized as their legal parents. The ruling covers both same-sex and opposite-sex couples, but advocates said it will be especially beneficial to gay parents whose routes to parenthood are often more complicated and less well-protected in the law.
The case concerned Michael Conover, a transgender man, and his ex-wife Brittany Eckel. The couple decided to have a child in 2009, when Conover still publicly identified as a woman, and Eckel got pregnant using a sperm donor. Only her name was listed on the baby's birth certificate.
The couple later married but separated in 2011. When Conover filed for visitation rights during their divorce, a judge found he had no status as the child's parent.
Read more: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-lgbt-ruling-20160708-story.html
