[JURIST] The Oklahoma Supreme Court [official website] on Tuesday ruled [opinion, PDF] that same-sex couples with children who had been in a union before same-sex marriage was legalized may be granted custodial rights. The case involves parents Charlene Ramey and Kimberly Sutton, who separated two years before the US Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage. During their eight years together, they had a child, with Sutton being the biological mother. The lower court, the Oklahoma County District Court [official website], had ruled against Ramey earlier this year when she asked for a temporary order granting her custody. The reasoning was that she was not the biological parent, was never married to Sutton and did not have written co-parenting agreement in place that could be enforced. The court stated in its decision, “Ramey is not a mere ‘third party’ like a nanny, friend, or relative, as suggested by the district court. … On the contrary, Ramey has been intimately involved in the conception, birth and parenting of their child, at the request and invitation of Sutton.”

Same-sex marriage [JURIST backgrounder] issues concerning children, particularly adoption disputes, have remained controversial issues throughout the world the past few years. Yesterday an Alabama woman asked [JURIST report] the US Supreme Court to review the decision of an Alabama court not to recognize her adoption of her same-sex partner’s three children. In September the Maryland Court of Special Appeals published a ruling [JURIST report] holding that a lesbian woman has no visitation or custody rights to a boy given birth by her partner before they were married. In August Mississippi civil rights groups filed a federal lawsuit [JURIST report] challenging the policy of the Mississippi Department of Human Services that bans adoption by married same-sex couples. In June the governor of Michigan signed a law [JURIST report] that allows private adoption agencies to deny placements with same-sex couples for religious reasons. In May the Supreme Court of the US Virgin Islands ruled [JURIST report] that second-parent adoptions by same-sex couples are permitted under Virgin Islands law.