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Women

Michigan Judge Calls Lesbian Mom on Birth Certificate 'Fiction Under the Law'

CNN Radio recently reported on the heartbreaking story of Marie Wolfe, a lesbian in Michigan who is fighting her former partner for visitation rights to the couple's twin children.

Sunnivie Brydum

<p>Sunnivie is an award-winning journalist and the managing editor at <em>The Advocate</em>. A proud spouse and puppy-parent, Sunnivie strives to queer up the world of reporting while covering the politics of equality daily.</p>

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Sunnivie Brydum

sunnivie

March 13 2013 2:44 PM EST

November 08 2024 6:41 AM EST

CNNRadio recently reported on the heartbreaking story of Marie Wolfe, a lesbian in Michigan who is fighting her former partner for visitation rights to the couple's twin children. When Wolfe and her former partner, who CNN identifies only as "Becky," were together, they pursued in vitro fertilization — which Wolfe says she paid for — and, with the help of an adoption agency and a judge, both legally adopted the children.

To do so, Becky absolved her parental rights, and both Wolfe and Becky adopted the children as a couple. The couple was re-issued birth certificates with both women's names listed as parents.

But then Becky left Wolfe, taking the children with her, and telling Wolfe that she'd see her kids again when she spoke with her attorney. Since marriage equality is illegal in Michigan, another judge who was randomly assigned to the custody dispute essentially invalidated the children's birth certificates recognizing Wolfe as a parent.

"What this really was is what we call a fiction under the law," judge Richard Garcia told CNN. "There was an attempt to create law where none exists. In Michigan, marriage is defined as marriage between a man and a woman. Some activist judges, quite frankly, decide they don’t like the law the way it is so they come up with a ruse to get around that situation."