Gay couple appeal homophobic custody ruling
Proving there is a long way to go for equality - this from Houston, Texas.Blood or adoption
A Houston gay couple said they will appeal a ruling in a child custody case because the judge ordered that the divorced father of three is prohibited from ever leaving his children alone with his husband, or any other man who is not related to the children “by blood or adoption.”
William Flowers, and his husband Jim Evans, (who married last year in Connecticut) called the judge homophobic, and they are being punished for being gay.
Custody denied
A jury denied Flowers’s request for custody of his twin nine-year-old girls and 14-year-old boy. But the verdict came back with a little something extra.
Contact denied
In an injunctive section, Judge Charley Prine ordered that Flowers cannot leave his children with any man who isn’t part of the family “by blood or adoption” without Lacey’s express permission. Male babysitters, doctors, neighbors, (not to mention Jim Evans, Flowers’s husband) were barred from exclusive contact with the children.
Pure homophobia
Austin family law attorney Jennifer Cochran said the ruling “strikes at the very heart of the fact that he’s gay … it’s judicial activism, legislating from the bench,” and has nothing to do with protecting the best interests of the children. Diana Sims, an attorney, said she’s never seen anything like this. “For the judge to slam him like this for no reason whatsoever is just pure homophobia,” she said.
Read more at: lgbtqnation.com