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Article: NEW JERSEY GAY COUPLES' RIGHTS SAME AS ALL PARENTS, COURT RULES.(News)
- Article from:
- Seattle Post-Intelligencer
- Article date:
- April 7, 2000
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In a ruling on the parental rights of same-sex couples hailed as the strongest to date, the New Jersey Supreme Court declared that lesbian partners who raise children have the same legal rights of any parent when deciding custody issues.
The court unanimously ruled that a lesbian who helped raise her then-lover's twins was a ``psychological parent'' with legal standing akin to the biological mother, and granted the woman visitation now that the couple has split up.
``It is really a groundbreaking decision,'' said Michael Adams of the American Civil Liberties Union's National Lesbian and Gay Rights Project. ``The issue here is that once you have a ...