This case has shown the ability of a Vermont judge to take jurisdiction in a federal matter, and I can foresee a lot of similar cases erupting–for example, what if Lisa had changed her mind before the birth and refused to list Janet as a parent on the certificate–could Janet sue to have the certificate changed after the fact?

I have a message from the younger generation.

We do not care.
I repeat we do not care the slightest about gays.

You have already lost and you don’t even know it.

Why it the constant refrain that Miller is the only legal/biological mother in this broken family?
I live in vermont, we HAVE LAWS!

One law we passed ten years ago is called CIVIL UNIONS, that law made Janet Jenkins the LEGAL OTHER PARENT of Isabella. On Vermont birth certificates, there are a spaces for parent_______ and parent________.

In the early days of civil unions the Dept of Vital records would xx out the gender specific term and type in “other parent” for civil union couples.

Now, Debbie Thurman may balk at the “horrible mess of legal paperwork” creadted by “civil unionizing” but our state is small and when you go to the dept of vital records, typically you are the only people there and the clerks are excited to have something to do.

In our experience the clerks are happy as can be to celebrate the birth of another Vermonter regardless of the gender of the parents and changing a few forms to celebrate advancing civil rights in the first state to abolish slavery is something we all love to do here.

Recently, we needed additionally sealed copies of our sons birth certificate. The clerk told us that the forms have been changed to spouse and spouse and she was very proud of the enlightened, fair, humanity of our legislature and population that we now have legal marriage equality.

The idea that an “activist judge” in vermont granted a”legal stranger” custody is absurd. The judge followed the laws of the state of Vermont.

Jenkins is a legal parent, Miller is a legal parent. The law of Vermont makes no distinction between the two. They are equally the child’s mothers.

Now, Miller defied the law and refused to cooperate with custody, the judge followed the law and after years of fighting Jenkins was awarded custody.
Again, Miller defied the law and kidnappped the child.

In all your wranglings about this case, please do not ignore the laws of my beloved state that all of us Vermonters worked very hard TOGETHER for years and years to agree to enact.

And please refrain Debbie Thurman from pretending that my family does not exist because you do not “believe” in laws.

Thank you.

Two people agreed to have a baby, and when they decided that their love wasn’t meant to be, they agreed to share custody, until one of them decides she wants to throw away the past, her commitments, and even her daughter’s relationship to her other mother.

Miller wasn’t so righteous that she couldn’t take child support from Jenkins.

It doesn’t matter if Jenkins isn’t the birth mother, she’s still Isabella’s mother. The ONLY reason she doesn’t have a stronger relationship with Isabella is because Miller selfishly and illegally denied her one. That’s like somebody putting a fence around your new home to keep you out, moving in and living there and saying “well, Gee, I deserve this house because I spent more time here”

When two people agree to bring a child into this world, one of them doesn’t just get to cut the other one out because she’s embarassed or wants to move on with her life. Parenting doesn’t end just because the relationship that fostered it ends.

If Jenkins were the birth mother, would Miller be okay with being denied a relationship with her daughter? I highly doubt that.

Thurman is selfish, Miller is selfish, and now Isabella is the victim of all this selfishness.

Jenkins only wanted what was fair, what would be fair to any other parent in the same situation, biological or not.

But Thurman, Miller, and her supporters have their “Anything to Stop The Gay” cards out and are playing them left and right.

but at least she hasn’t been intentionally deprived of a mother and a father like she owuld with those dirty homos.I’m sure that makes up for it significantly.

Funny since you mentioned it, my partner’s sister was told by her outlaws she needed to have another child just in case something happened to the first one. Just as they had done by having two children–you know, always have a backup for emergencies!

As a follow on to that, since nothing ever bad happened to the first child, they treated the backup child like garbage and told her she’d never amount to anything.

Sol, you are an ass.
In the first place, the child IS hers, legally. I assume you meant why does she want custody of a child that’s not BIOLOGICALLY hers, and that’s a rather stupid question, since there are a lot of step- and adoptive parents who feel a bond towards a child they helped raise in a relationship with another person.
In the second place, what kind of person tells another, “Oh, you can just have another kid to replace the one you lost!” That’s an incredibly sick thing to say. What’s more-how do you know she’s biologically capable of having a child. While it’s certainly possible for a 45 year old woman to bear a child, it can be medically risky. And you certainly don’t know what her fertility status is.

If Miller recieved all of her support from a particular source prior to going on the lam, authorities could probably get warrants for monitoring the financials of those groups to look for suspicious money transfers or other activity.

It isn’t as easy these days to just disappear. I would hope that the passport for those involved (particularly the child) was confiscated long ago (a reasonable precaution in contentious custody cases).

And I’m not the one who claims that gay people can’t change, it’s a fact of life.
Being the biological parent doesn’t imbue a person suddenly with the moral, emotional or material means for a child to have a secure and caring home.
As I ALSO said earlier, these women decided to have this only child TOGETHER and so this little one doesn’t have any other parents.
Jenkins was doing the RIGHT thing by fighting for the SHARED responsibility of that child.

Miller didn’t have any rational reason to KEEP Jenkins from seeing their child. None at all.
Being the biological parent isn’t reason enough.