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ER gay parent rights (or lack of) - anyone see it?

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  • 26-04-2004 9:13am
    #1
    vibe666
    Registered Users Posts: 13,016 ✭✭✭✭


    Saw it last night on Ch4 or E4 (I think) wasn't really watching tbh, as was engrossed in a magazine, but the gay woman who's somebody senior in the ER (the one with crutches) has a child with her partner, who is actually the birth mother of the child. briefly and I'll spoiler this if you missed it
    her partner died (slowly and dramatically) in some sort of explosion leaving her as the sole parent of this little baby boy.

    the problem is that the other members of her partners family have taken it upon themselves to raise the child and shut poor old whatshername out completely.

    it was very sad and i thought well done, but what would be her rights? i don't know if she had adopted the child or not (personally i would have at the earliest possible time if i could) or if she was legally registered as a parent or what, but it seemed very unfair, although i'm sure the family were just worried about losing their nephew/grandson.

    did anyone see it?

    btw, Hi GLB! my first post here. I'm hoping being GLB isn't a pre-requisite for posting here anyway. one of those 'you don't have to be gay to post here......but it helps' type deals. Anyway, just wanted to say hi.

    Edit: Corrected a spoiler typo :)


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    #2
    Gurgle
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,064 ✭✭✭Gurgle


    Yeah, saw ER last night.

    I would have thought they would have some legal arrangement so that Kerry (senior gay doctor woman on crutch) would be a legal guardian and get the baby automatically if Sandy (dead gay birth-mother doctor woman) died.

    But that would have cost them a useful storyline for the rest of the series.

    This plot is better suited to Eastenders than ER.


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    #3
    yellum
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,025 ✭✭✭yellum


    It depends on the state where the story is, this is in Illinois so I don't know do they have the laws to allow a partner to have legal rights to the child.

    Vermont allows her legal guardianship and she would be legally classed as the child parent, whereas other states such as Virginia have just banned all partnership rights and same-sex marriage rights to gay couples.

    While people think this fight for same-sex marriage is just to be married it's more to do with the rights marriage grants such as pensions, medical care, inheritance rights, parenting rights etc.

    The story that was shown in ER is a story that happens quite a lot and even occurs in Ireland.


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