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The ACLU is committed to defending the rights of LGBT parents, not only in custody and visitation arrangements but also by challenging discriminatory laws that restrict the rights of LGBT people to parent.	> Georgia Appeals Court Overturns Contempt Conviction of Lesbian Mother > ACLU Applauds Defeat of Anti-Gay Adoption and Foster Care Bill

Georgia Appeals Court Overturns Contempt Conviction of Lesbian Mother (03/24/2008)
ATLANTA - A long nightmare has ended for Elizabeth Hadaway, who was convicted of criminal contempt of court last year for not handing her daughter over to foster care after she lost custody solely because she's a lesbian. A year and one day after a county court judge sentenced Hadaway to 10 days in jail, the Georgia Court of Appeals today overturned her contempt conviction. The American Civil Liberties Union, which represented her in the appeal and secured the little girl's return home from foster care last May, applauded the court's decision.

ACLU Asks Georgia Appeals Court to Dismiss Jail Sentence for Lesbian Mother (09/19/2007)
ATLANTA -- The American Civil Liberties Union today urged the Georgia Court of Appeals to dismiss a county judge's contempt order and jail sentence against a lesbian mother. Earlier this year, Wilkinson County Judge John Lee Parrott ordered that the child Elizabeth Hadaway hopes to adopt be taken away for three months because Hadaway is a lesbian, and now Hadaway is battling an order from the same judge that she spend as many as ten days in jail.

ACLU Secures Return of Seven-Year-Old to Lesbian Mother in Georgia (05/21/2007)
ATLANTA – After almost three months, a seven-year-old girl has been reunited with the woman in whose care she’d thrived for almost a year before being sent to live in a crowded foster home. The child had been held in foster care by the Wilkinson County Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) since February 20, when a judge took her away from her home after he learned that she was being raised by a lesbian.

ACLU Asks Georgia Judge to Return Seven-Year-Old to Lesbian Mother (05/02/2007)
ATLANTA – In a hearing today, the American Civil Liberties Union urged Wilkinson County Superior Court to return a vulnerable seven-year-old girl to the woman in whose care she had been thriving for a year. The county’s Division of Family and Children Services (DFCS) has held the girl in foster care since February 20, when a judge took her away after he learned that she was being raised by a lesbian.

ACLU Applauds Defeat of Anti-Gay Adoption and Foster Care Bill; Calls Defeat a Tremendous Victory for Arkansas Children (03/27/2007)
LITTLE ROCK, AR - The American Civil Liberties Union of Arkansas cheered the decision of the Arkansas House Judiciary Committee today to reject SB 959, a bill that would have banned gay people and most unmarried heterosexual couples who live together from adopting or serving as foster parents.

Too High a Price: The Case Against Restricting Gay Parenting (11/13/2006)

In re Hadaway - Decision (03/24/2008)

Hadaway v. Fowler-Dennard - ACLU Brief Appealing Contempt Charge (05/23/2007)

Hadaway v. Fowler-Dennard - ACLU Memo in Support of Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus (04/19/2007)

Hadaway v. Fowler-Dennard - ACLU Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus (04/19/2007)

Hadaway v. Fowler-Dennard - Bibb County Order Granting Custody (04/02/2007)

Testimony of Jill G. Joseph, MD, PhD, at a Oversight Hearing on "Legal Threats to Traditional Marriage: Implications for Public Policy" before the Subcommittee on the Constitution of the House Judiciary Committee (04/22/2004)

Letter to the House on D.C. Appropriations Vote (07/29/1999)

Letter to the House on D.C. Appropriations Debate (07/27/1999)

Lesbian and Gay Rights During President Clinton's Second Term: A Working Paper Published by the Citizens' Commission on Civil Rights (01/15/1999)

Johnston v. MO Dept. of Social Services - Plaintiff Profile: Lisa Johnston (05/03/2005)

Behavioral Incident Report - Marcus McLaurin, Lafayette, LA (12/01/2003)
This is a Behavioral Incident Report from Ernest Gallet Elementary School, which was sent home with 7-year-old Marcus McLaurin of Lafayette, Louisiana on November 11, 2003 after his school disciplined him for telling another child that his mother is gay. For more information on this, see the ACLU's press release at http://www.aclu.org/LesbianGayRights/LesbianGayRights.cfm?ID=14481&c=104.

Student Behavior Contract - Marcus McLaurin, Lafayette, LA (12/01/2003)
This is the Student Behavior Contract from Ernest Gallet Elementary School, which was sent home with 7-year-old Marcus McLaurin of Lafayette, Louisiana on November 11, 2003 after his school disciplined him for telling another child that his mother is gay. For more information on this, see the ACLU's press release at http://www.aclu.org/LesbianGayRights/LesbianGayRights.cfm?ID=14481&c=104.

In the Child's Best Interests: Defending Fair and Sensible Adoption Policies (04/30/1998)

Howard v. Arkansas - Case Background (10/04/2004)

Howard v. Arkansas - Case Background (10/04/2004)

Howard v. Arkansas - George Rekers Fact Sheet (10/04/2004)

Howard v. Arkansas - Know the Experts (03/19/2004)
Details on the expert witnesses for the ACLU's challenge to Arkansas's anti-gay foster care ban.

Overview of Lesbian and Gay Parenting, Adoption and Foster Care (04/06/1999)

In re Hadaway - Case Profile (05/02/2007)

Johnston v. MO Dept. of Social Services - Case Profile (05/03/2005)
The Missouri Department of Social Services turned down Lisa Johnston's application to become a foster parent because she's a lesbian.

Burch v. Smarr - Case Profile (03/01/2005)

Howard v. Arkansas - Case Profile (03/01/2005)
The ACLU represented four prospective foster parents in a lawsuit that struck down a regulation banning gay people and people in households with gay family members from foster parenting.