Tagged: family law

It all began in 1983 in the basement of a church.

They were a dozen or so lesbians in committed relationships who wanted to be good mothers. Some already had children, and some were still figuring out how to make it happen.

One woman even handed out mimeographed instructions on how to artificially inseminate with a syringe and sperm from a donor.

During a recent weekend, 10 of those women filled the living room of a home in Seattle’s Greenwood neighborhood.

What does it take to make someone a parent in the eyes of the law? And can a child have more than two designated legal parents?  

As families become more complex, those are questions courts in Washington and elsewhere are wrestling with.

Back in 2005,  the Washington State Supreme Court became something of a national leader when it ruled on a case involving a lesbian couple.

The court determined that, after the couple split up, the non biological mother could have full parental rights as a “de facto parent.”