Lesbian custody battle ensues after Vermont civil union disolves

A woman attempting to keep her former partner from having visitation rights to her daughter has lost yet another round in a lengthy legal battle that has involved the high courts in two states.

At the center of the battle between Lisa Miller and Janet Jenkins is a six-year old girl named Isabelle who was conceived through artificial insemination to Lisa Miller. At the time Miller was in a relationship with Jenkins, which had been formalized by a civil union in Vermont where they resided.

When the relationship between the two women soured and they split up, a judge in Vermont gave Jenkins temporary visitation rights with the child. Miller then fled with her daughter to Virginia, which has some of the most anti-gay legislation in the country, declared she was no longer a lesbian, hired a conservative Christian law firm, and went to court in Virginia seeking sole custody of the child.

Read more at Gay and Lesbian Times.