Here's a story bringing together the craziness of adoptions by non-biological homosexual "parents", the fluidity of "sexual orientation", and the willingness of the judiciary to ignore state laws.
Lesbian Argues Ga. Gays Can't Adopt Kids
AP, 3-25-07
ATLANTA -- Sara Wheeler's life has become a contradiction. Once a proud lesbian, she's now a pariah in the gay community. Once in a committed relationship with a female partner, she's rethinking her sexuality. And now she's doing something she once would have considered unthinkable -- arguing that gays don't have the legal right to adopt children.
Wheeler is coming to grips with the fact that she's become an outcast for taking this step in a custody fight for her child. But she says that isn't what her fight is about: "It's about motherly rights."
Wheeler, 36, and her partner, Missy, decided to start a family together and share the Wheeler last name. In 2000, Sara Wheeler gave birth to a son, Gavin, through artificial insemination. Two years later, they decided Missy Wheeler should adopt the child and legally become his second parent. Georgia law doesn't specifically say whether gay parents can adopt a child, so the decision was up to a judge in the Atlanta area's DeKalb County. After an adoption investigator determined that both partners wanted it, the judge cleared the request. ...
But then the couple broke up, and the biological parent, Wheeler, wanted sole custody of her son. She asked the court to "toss the adoption that she had previously pushed for, claiming it should never have been approved because it runs afoul of state law." Her lawsuit was rejected by the county judge and state Court of Appeals, then went to the Georgia Supreme Court, which refused to hear it (but is reconsidering). The local GLBT newspaper accused Wheeler of "self-hating".
"There's nothing that states this is an acceptable adoption," [Wheeler] said. "If Georgia wants to allow it, it needs to make proper laws." Aside from a few gay friends, she has turned away from the gay community. She no longer dates, and doesn't go to gay clubs or events any more. She said she is rethinking whether she is still a lesbian or whether she should abandon dating for good.
"I just don't feel comfortable in that scene," she says. "I'm just trying to figure it all out." She knows she's seen as a betrayer; but in a sense, she feels she was the one betrayed. "Before I'm anything -- gay or lesbian -- I'm a mother," she says. "And the most important thing is to make sure my son has a relationship with his biological mother."
