quote:A Canadian woman wants the Ontario Court of Appeal to recognize her as the third parent of a 5-year-old boy she's raising with her lesbian partner.
Final submissions in the case were heard Tuesday and a decision is expected within six months.
The application, if allowed, would be believed to mark the first time in Canada a child would legally have more than two parents, and would fundamentally change the definition of the word "family."
-------------------- People need to stop appropriating Jesus as their reason for behaving badly. It's so irritating. (Avril) Posts: 8429 | From: New York run by the Swiss (Toronto) | Registered: Mar 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Canuckistan: Story here.
quote:A Canadian woman wants the Ontario Court of Appeal to recognize her as the third parent of a 5-year-old boy she's raising with her lesbian partner.
Final submissions in the case were heard Tuesday and a decision is expected within six months.
The application, if allowed, would be believed to mark the first time in Canada a child would legally have more than two parents, and would fundamentally change the definition of the word "family."
Too cool! Hope it gets through.
-------------------- So many spankings! It feels so good! But at the same time, I don't care about meeting your family! - I'mNotDedalus: Posts: 3216 | From: Denver, CO | Registered: Dec 2005
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posted
Well, this ought to be interesting. Take out the lesbian issue, and apply this to hetero couples. Mom and Dad divorce; Mom remarries, as does Dad. In California, if the step-parent wants to adopt the child(ren), the bio-parent must relinquish parental rights and responsibilities. Conversely, parental rights and responsibilities cannot be relinquished unless there is a step-parent willing to assume such rights & responsibilities. The courts want two people, and in California it is a male and a female, and only 2 people to be the parents.
How will this work if all three end up living their separate lives and then have other SOs that want to be declared parents? So now the kid gets 6 parents? Then 12?
Not that I'm saying this would be bad, or wrong, just that the implications go far beyond this child and this set of parents.
-------------------- "The little local company I buy from has CHEAP shipping and I have met their goats." (snapdragonfly)
"And that's one lost erection I'll never get back! You hear me Dan! I'm owed an erection!" (I'mNotDedalus) Posts: 2658 | From: California | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
If this is something that means so much to the "third parent" if you will, why has it never come up before? Surely down through the echoing canyons of time there have been spouses in a second marriage who wanted to be considered a third parent.
Somehow this really bugs me. It's a bit like Ross's ex-wife and her lesbian partner on Friends (thanks for putting Friends in my head today Chloe ). Ross was expected to take a helluva lot of crap because the partner was a female that no one would have expected him to take if his wife had run off with another guy. The episode where the new partner fully expected the still unborn baby to take her name rather than Ross's particularly rankled.
-------------------- If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, it's just possible you haven't grasped the situation. - Jean Kerr Posts: 18428 | From: Ontario, Canada | Registered: Nov 2001
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quote:Originally posted by Christie: If this is something that means so much to the "third parent" if you will, why has it never come up before? Surely down through the echoing canyons of time there have been spouses in a second marriage who wanted to be considered a third parent.
Probably, but I think the conservatives might be onto somthing (they just think it's bad, and I think it's good). I do that that once "marriage" and "family" as an institution start being discussed rather than just accepted, you will see people considering other configurations of marriage and family. Personally, I love it. Break out the champagne.
quote:Originally posted by Christie: Somehow this really bugs me. It's a bit like Ross's ex-wife and her lesbian partner on Friends (thanks for putting Friends in my head today Chloe ). Ross was expected to take a helluva lot of crap because the partner was a female that no one would have expected him to take if his wife had run off with another guy. The episode where the new partner fully expected the still unborn baby to take her name rather than Ross's particularly rankled.
Sorry. What does? The OP, or the idea that family is static? And did it piss you off that the new partner expected the kid to take her name? Why would they name the kid after Ross?
-------------------- So many spankings! It feels so good! But at the same time, I don't care about meeting your family! - I'mNotDedalus: Posts: 3216 | From: Denver, CO | Registered: Dec 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Ryda Wong: Why would they name the kid after Ross?
Because he was the father and the new SO wasn't the mother?
I'm just guessing, because I don't watch TV that much, and the appeal of Friends died out for me after about the 5th episode.
-------------------- "The little local company I buy from has CHEAP shipping and I have met their goats." (snapdragonfly)
"And that's one lost erection I'll never get back! You hear me Dan! I'm owed an erection!" (I'mNotDedalus) Posts: 2658 | From: California | Registered: Jul 2005
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quote:Originally posted by bthyb: What's with all the sitcoms on here today?
I don't know, but I feel kind of left out since I don't recognize any of them!
-------------------- "The little local company I buy from has CHEAP shipping and I have met their goats." (snapdragonfly)
"And that's one lost erection I'll never get back! You hear me Dan! I'm owed an erection!" (I'mNotDedalus) Posts: 2658 | From: California | Registered: Jul 2005
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quote:Originally posted by Ryda Wong: And did it piss you off that the new partner expected the kid to take her name? Why would they name the kid after Ross?
What bugged me was that Ross was the father of the baby and the decision on the last name should have been between him and the mother of his baby. They were reducing him to the level of a sperm donor and that was just wrong. I don't think IRL that the new live-in lover, if male, would have expected that the baby would have taken his name. Certainly not without *a lot* of discussion.
-------------------- If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs, it's just possible you haven't grasped the situation. - Jean Kerr Posts: 18428 | From: Ontario, Canada | Registered: Nov 2001
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posted
What legal rights do parents get over their children that a "legal guardian" does not? Is "legal guardian" limited to 2 per child as well? Because I seem to remember my grandmother signing forms that needed to be signed by a parent or legal guardian. Although perhaps she wasn't a LEGAL guardian...and maybe she shouldn't have been signing the forms.
Anyway, I was just wondering if there was a difference between parents and legal guardians...legally speaking.
-------------------- "For me, religion is like a rhinoceros: I don't have one, and I'd really prefer not to be trampled by yours. But it is impressive, and even beautiful, and, to be honest, the world would be slightly worse off if there weren't any." -Silas Sparkhammer Posts: 3239 | From: Ontario, Canada | Registered: Sep 2003
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Joe Bentley
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posted
While I'm a big fan of changing the definition of the world family... changing it to "nothing" I have to agree that I don't see the difference between this and a married heterosexual asking to be seen as a legal "third parent" to a step child, which as far as I know doesn't happen.
-------------------- "Existence has no pattern save what we imagine after staring at it for too long." - Rorschach, The Watchmen Posts: 8929 | From: Norfolk, Virginia | Registered: Jun 2002
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quote:Originally posted by MapleLeaf: What legal rights do parents get over their children that a "legal guardian" does not? Is "legal guardian" limited to 2 per child as well? Because I seem to remember my grandmother signing forms that needed to be signed by a parent or legal guardian. Although perhaps she wasn't a LEGAL guardian...and maybe she shouldn't have been signing the forms.
Anyway, I was just wondering if there was a difference between parents and legal guardians...legally speaking.
There really is no difference between a parent and a legal guardian, legally speaking. They both have the same rights, responsibilities, and privileges as each other. My SO is in this situation: both him and his parents share legal guardianship of his daughter. They all have equality in making decisions for her and for her care.
posted
So then is this fight similar to the gay marriage one, in that these people can already get all of the same legal priviledges, but this woman wants the title that goes with it?
-------------------- "For me, religion is like a rhinoceros: I don't have one, and I'd really prefer not to be trampled by yours. But it is impressive, and even beautiful, and, to be honest, the world would be slightly worse off if there weren't any." -Silas Sparkhammer Posts: 3239 | From: Ontario, Canada | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
Actually, a parent can over-rule a legal guardian. My parents were my nephews legal guardians (they've since adopted him), but my sister had the final vote on things as the legal parent.
In other words, if the bio-mom and her partner made a decision for the child, and the bio-father didn't approve, he could step in and stop things from happening.
Posts: 1359 | From: Akron, Ohio | Registered: Aug 2005
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). Ross was expected to take a helluva lot of crap because the partner was a female that no one would have expected him to take if his wife had run off with another guy. The episode where the new partner fully expected the still unborn baby to take her name rather than Ross's particularly rankled.
