Utah Attorney General Steps in to Ensure Gay Couples in Utah Cannot Adopt

by Brig Bagley

3 March 2014

Since the stay issued by the Supreme Court to halt marriages in Utah, the State has re-claimed its original laws no longer recognizing same-sex couples as legally married. This includes couples' rights to adopt children in the state. Attorney General Sean Reyes has had several memos from his office sent out to adoption cases to halt their progression.

Several couples are seeking for legal joint custody of their children, but cannot with the State rejecting their family as legitimate. One mother seeks to have her biological child under joint custody of her female partner. If there is an emergency, or the biological mother dies, the child will be taken from the mother's partner on the basis that they are "legal strangers", and the partner has no right or custody over the child.

Utah claims it is "protecting the children of Utah" by not permitting same-sex couples to marry or receive any benefits that come with a marriage. But, by doing so, it is actually harming the children of same-sex couples who have loving homes and seek the legal protection of the State for their families.

Read more here: http://gaysaltlake.com/news/2014/02/28/utah-attorney-general-steps-private-adoption-cases-legally-married-sex-couples/