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(Salt Lake City, Utah) Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.
has vetoed a bill that would prevent a court from awarding parental rights
against the wishes of the biological or adoptive parent.
The legislation stemmed from a case that made
international headlines in 2004 when a judge awarded visitation rights to the
former lesbian partner of the child's birth mother who claims to have turned
straight after "getting religion".
The case, Jones v Barlow, is now before the Utah
Supreme Court.
Keri Lynn Jones and Cheryl Pike Barlow met in
2000 and were together about three years.
"Probably after we were dating six months
maybe, we decided we wanted to have a baby in the next year so we spent a lot of
time talking to our attorney," Jones contends in court papers.
Jones contends they intended to rear the girl -
now 5 years old - together and took several steps to establish legal
relationship for her and the baby. Barlow disputes that she ever intended for
Jones to have a legal relationship to the child.
At the beginning both women shared in the joy of
the birth. But then, Barlow said, she discovered Jones was having an affair with
another woman.
The bill was sponsored by Rep. LaVar Christensen
(R-Draper) who also sponsored Utah's constitutional amendment to ban same-sex
marriage and is involved in suit challenging Salt Lake City's domestic partner
benefits.
Opponents of the legislation said it could affect
grandparents and/or stepparents.
"The biological parent's right to exercise that authority
unilaterally - casting aside bonds that have been created over the course
of many years without so much as a hearing to determine what might be in
the best interests of the child - would trump all other considerations
unless the biological parent had previously "been adjudicated as an
unfit parent," Huntsman wrote in his veto.
"Giving such parents an absolute right to terminate a child's
relationship with a step parent standing in loco parentis would be a
mistake. I must therefore veto this bill," he said.
House and Senate
leaders said Wednesday that they will poll fellow lawmakers to determine if
there is enough support for an override session in the
next few weeks. Lawmakers have 60 days to reinstate the laws.
©365Gay.com 2006
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