[Vision2020] One 11-year-old Child Represents the Highest Court

[Tom Hansen]

>From today's (May 16, 2006) Lewiston Tribune with a special, heart-felt
appreciation to Tom Henderson.

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Tom Henderson
What does the child think? Does anyone even care? 

Gay rights supporters wanted the Supreme Court to play King Solomon --
deciding a child custody battle between two lesbian mothers. So did gay
rights opponents. 

Both sides wanted the high court to decide what constitutes a parent. 

Justices chose not to play. They refused to review a Washington state
Supreme Court decision recognizing Sue Ellen Carvin's parental rights with
the child she raised with Page Britain (her ex-partner and the girl's
biological mother). 

A federal ruling might have been nice -- for the various crusaders. In the
end, however, it doesn't matter what a bunch of stone-faced people in black
robes think. 

All that matters is what one 11-year-old girl feels. She represents the
highest court. Does she consider Carvin her mother? 

If so, then to hell with the busybodies and their opinions. If not, no
amount of court-ordered visitations are going to turn a friend into a
mother. 

Maybe the girl doesn't know how she feels. Then it would be nice for her to
be able to sort out her feelings without the rest of society butting in. 

Unfortunately, society can't seem to help itself. 

Obsessed with other people's lives, we must have a clear legal precedent so
we know how to define and judge one another. The loudest squawkers point to
that ever-popular slippery slope. 

If mere emotional attachment gives people parental rights, God knows where
it will end. Old boyfriends, girlfriends, nannies and soccer coaches will be
able to sue for visitation. 

Carvin and Britain provide a weak illustration for that point. 

They were in a committed relationship. They would have been married if the
law allowed. They decided -- mutually -- to have a baby. 

Being lesbians, they had to find an alternative means for one of them to get
pregnant. They opted for Britain to be artificially inseminated. 

They had their baby. Then, like so many heterosexual married couples, they
broke up. However, because they couldn't legally get married, this left the
problem with custody. 

Eventually, gay marriages will be universally recognized. Such battles will
go away. Custody disputes will be decided the same flawed way for gay and
straight couples alike. 

In other words, everyone will be treated equally poorly. At least the
irrelevancy of sexual orientation will be kept out of the equation. -- T.H.

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Note to dick - It is not about special right.  It is about EQUAL rights.

Seeya round town, Moscow.

t hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"Gays and lesbians stood up for civil rights in Montgomery, Selma, in
Albany, Georgia and St. Augustine, Florida, and many other campaigns of the
Civil Rights Movement.  Many of these courageous men and women were fighting
for my freedom at a time when they could find few voices for their own, and
I salute their contributions."

- Coretta Scott King (March 30, 1998)