There would surely be some Montgomery, Tennessee residents who would agree that sexual orientation is something that is a man or woman’s personal choice. In the United States and other parts of the world, lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transsexuals have started to gain acceptance in their respective societies. Over time, legislation in different parts of the United States and other countries around the world have started recognizing the rights of the LGBT community.
However, child custody and visitation is one area in which the community has probably not gained the amount of recognition it deserves. That is what a recent research study performed by two scholars at the Drexel University in Pennsylvania suggests. According to the study, court rulings that prefer heterosexual parents over homosexual are ignoring some very established research findings that suggest the homosexual parents are as good parents as their heterosexual counterparts.
It has often been witnessed in courtrooms across various states that the sexual orientation or the sexual preference of a parent continues to be an important factor based on which a court awards custody of a child. A research article published by the American Psychological Association appeals to courts in the country to treat LGBT parents equally in the court of law, when it comes to the settlement of child custody disputes between separating parents where one parent belongs to this community.
In Tennessee and elsewhere, it may happen that a person discovers his or her sexual orientation or sexual preference at a point in life when he or she is already married to a person of the opposite sex and parent of a child. It is most unlikely that a parent’s sexual orientation would impact his or her capability to parent a child. But as courts may not be too willing to grant them custody, they may choose to appoint an experienced attorney to protect their parental rights.
Source: Drexel.edu, “In Child Custody Disputes, LGBT Parents Face Bias in the Courts, New Drexel Review Finds,” April 14, 2014
