Earlier this month there was an article in the news about a Lesbian couple in a heated custody battle in Central Florida. The couple, whose names were left out of the article, had conceived a child through artificial insemination. Two years after the child was born they split and the birth mother ran away with the child to Australia. Six years later her partner tracked her down with a private investigator and is now suing for custody. A case like this is usually open and shut. We are all too familiar with the way the law works in these instances. The court almost always, unless there is a history of abuse, sides with the natural mother; even in custody cases amongst married straight couples. But this case was a bit more complex than usual because although the woman who disappeared with the child was the "birth" mother, the child was biologically related to the other partner. She had donated one of her eggs which was then fertilized and implanted in her partner.

This case is poised to force the State of Florida lawmakers to reconsider a 19-year-old law regarding the rights of sperm and egg donors. The fight over the now 8-year-old girl is before the state Supreme Court, which has not announced whether it will consider the case or not. A trial judge has already ruled for the birth mother and said the biological mother has no parental rights under state law, adding to his decision that he hoped his decision would be overturned. The 5th District Court of Appeal in Daytona Beach obliged with his request and sided with the biological mother, saying that both women have parental rights.

At issue now before the court is the 1993 state law meant to regulate sperm and egg donation which debates whether the constitutional right to procreate includes outside-the-body technologies used to conceive. Also at issue are constitutional questions about gay people's right to raise children and claim equal protection under the law.

Reading about this case gave me a headache. What a horrible mess and what a horrible shame that there is a sweet 8 year old trapped in the middle of it. I won't begin to comment on the behaviors of the mothers as the article was scarce with personal details about the circumstances of the break-up. I will, however, shake a disapproving finger at the Florida State Legislature.

People continue to think that if they ignore us and refuse to enact laws on our behalf that we might one day slip quietly into the night, never to be heard from again. They forget that the number one job of the Legislature is to enact laws to protect the public; that protects its people. The Florida Legislature’s inability to pass gay marriage laws and gay adoption laws has crippled our community and has stunted our growth. The law cannot be viewed as written in stone. It must change and evolve at the same rate as the people it is attempting to govern, otherwise it becomes obsolete. Someone along the way has dropped the ball on all issues gay, and now an 8 year old child is suffering the consequences. Hopefully, this case will bring the issue back to the forefront and force our Legislators to do the job we elected them to do; lead and protect us all, gay or straight.