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Article: Ruling affirms `de facto' parent SJC gives lesbian visitation rights
- Article from:
- The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)
- Article date:
- June 30, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1999 The Boston Globe. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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In a groundbreaking ruling that expands parental rights for gay
men and lesbians, the state's highest court said yesterday that a
lesbian who helped raise her partner's biological son had been a "de
facto" parent, entitling her to visitation rights after the couple
split up.
The decision, coming a week after the Supreme Judicial Court ruled
that an aunt was entitled to visit a child she had helped raise,
expands the legal notion of parenting, acknowledging the place of
nontraditional families in modern life.
"The recognition of de facto parents is in accord with notions of
the modern family," Justice Ruth Abrams wrote for the four-member