Carrie Pueblo and Rachel Haas—partners in a committed same-sex relationship—chose to have a child together using assisted insemination, with Ms. Haas carrying the child. When their child was born in November 2008, same-sex marriages were not legal in their home state of Michigan. The relationship between Ms. Pueblo and Ms. Haas ended before same-sex marriage was legalized.

After their separation, Ms. Haas denied Ms. Pueblo all contact with the child she had raised since birth.

Ms. Pueblo filed suit in family court seeking shared custody and parenting time, but both the trial court and Michigan Court of Appeals held that because she is not the child’s biological mother, she did not have standing. This left Ms. Pueblo as a legal stranger to her own child. The case is now at the Michigan Supreme Court.

When parents separate, children in families created by same-sex couples, just like children in families created by different-sex couples, need legal protections that recognize the parents’ and children’s fundamental rights in their relationship. Custody and parenting time decisions for the children of same-sex couples should be made based on the best interests of the child, just as they are for the children of different-sex couples.

Some of the most important civil rights of LGBTQ people in Michigan are at stake in this case: the rights to become parents, to form families, to raise children, and to maintain relationships with those children. The Court should act to protect those rights, and the judgment of the Court of Appeals should be reversed.

GLAD joined an amicus brief with the ACLU of Michigan, Lambda Legal Defense & Education Fund, LGBTQA Law Section of the State Bar of Michigan, Affirmations LGBTQ+ Community Center, and the National Center for Lesbian Rights.