8A the university daily kansan
news
thursday,may 6,2004
Lynn read a bedtime story to Alex (left) and Sarabeth (right) before they went to bed. "We have the right to live our lives, love our kids and love our partners like everybody else does." Lynn said.
(Starting left) Gina, Gina's mother, Alex, Lynn and Sarabeth sat down for an evening dinner. "We had to explain to my daughter what a fag was," Gina said.
Sarabeth (bottom), Gina
(second from bottom),
Alex (second from top)
and Lynn made a family
sandwich on their couch.
"How does it affect the
children when their parents
can't get married?"
Gina said.
Story and photos by Abby Tillery
Family rights
Local homosexual couple struggles for legal recognition as parents
Gina and Lynn Barnett have been in a committed relationship for 16 years. They have two children, Sarabeth and Alex. They live in a Jewish community in Kansas City, Mo. They were united in a Jewish ceremony in their backyard two years ago.
ceremony in their backyard two years ago. But because they are both women, their marriage is not recognized legally. According to the Human Right Campaign Web site, same-sex couples are denied more than 1,000 rights allowed to married heterosexual couples, including two-parent adoption.
married heterosexual couples, including the Last June, Canada legalized same-sex marriages, igniting the debate in the United States. President George W. Bush defended the 1996. Defense of Marriage Act by challenging Congress in a February 2004 press conference to "promptly pass, and to send to the states for ratification, an amendment to our Constitution defining and protecting marriage as a union of man and woman as husband and wife." A proposed amendment to the state constitution prohibiting gay marriage in Kansas failed Tuesday in the House by five votes.
"I am a citizen of the United States. I have a right to be married," Lynn said.
Diane Silver, Lawrence resident and founder of the Freedom
Lynn made Alex put away his bike before he went to bed. "I have to say even with some of the issues that the kids struggle with, they are great kids," Lynn said.
Coalition, said the amendment was not just anti-gay, but anti-family.
"Everything you take for granted as a heterosexual couple is denied to lesbians and gays for no other reason then who they are."
Silver lost her life-partner several years ago to breast cancer, forcing her to adopt the son that she had already been raising with her partner.
Lynn and Gina looked at different options for starting their family, including artificial insemination. They hit a road block when learning Shawnee Mission Medical Center in Overland Park would not artificially inseminate a woman in a lesbian relationship.
of marriage'.
The Barnetts then turned to adoption. However, there was a problem with adopting in the United States for the couple. Lynn said they were only offered children requiring specialized care and felt it was because they were in a same-sex relationship. They found that they could adopt from overseas, but there were limitations.
ship.
According to a statement issued by Samuel H. Turner, senior president and CEO of Shawnee Mission Medical Center, "The ideal is for children to have benefits of an intact family with a mother and a father. For this reason, reproductive services should only be provided within the bounds of the fidelity and permanence of marriage."
they could adopt from overseas, but it wouldn't "I couldn't count Gina's income when applying, because we weren't legally married and only one of us could be the legal parent." Lynn said.
ent," Lynn said. Patricia Long, program administrator for the permanency unit at the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services, said that all couples are offered children with special needs because those are the majority of children waiting for placement. It was not a reflection of discrimination against same-sex couples. Two-parent adoptions can only take place if the couple is married. Long said.
If same-sex marriage is made legal, Long said adoption policies might have to be reevaluated, accounting for two-parent adoption for same-sex couples.
Lynn and Gina said that it was not fair that their children were only allowed to have one legal parent.
Alex kissed Lynn when she picked him up from play time at a neighbor's house. Lynn runs a non-for-profit agency, Parent-to-Parent, to assist couples in the adoption process.
Edited by Donovan Atkinson
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