GAYS GET PARENTAL RIGHTS STATE HIGH COURT SAYS SAME-SEX COUPLE BOTH RESPONSIBLE FOR KIDS.

Byline: Staff and Wire Services

Same-sex couples who raise children are lawful parents and, just like heterosexual parents, must provide for their children if they break up, the California Supreme Court decided Monday in a series of landmark rulings.

The justices ruled for the first time that custody and child-support laws that hold absent fathers accountable also apply to estranged gay and lesbian couples who used reproductive science to conceive.

The precedent-setting decision marked a victory for the woman identified in court documents as Lisa R., who sought joint custody of 4-year-old Lauren, the daughter born to her former partner during their relationship.

``I am just ecstatic,'' said Lisa R., 43, sitting in the Encino office of her attorney, Diane Goodman. ``This is a privilege - to be a parent - and I look forward to being her parent the rest of her life.''

Ruling in three separate lesbian-parenting cases, the California justices continued to recognize rights and responsibilities for children from same-sex relationships and to protect the youngsters from any stigma of illegitimacy.

``This means if a couple - gay, straight, married or not - brings a child into this world, they will be held liable for child support and will have the right to share custody,'' Goodman said. ``It's a huge victory.''

In the case of Lisa R., the court found that her parental rights could not be terminated by her former partner, identified as Kristine H., years after the two obtained a court order stipulating they were both parents.

Before the ruling, Lisa R. could visit Lauren only two days a week, driving between her home in Palm Springs and her daughter's home in San Bernardino on Wednesdays and Fridays.

But now she hopes not only to see Lauren more often, but also to gain access to her medical and school records and to play an active role in all aspects of the child's life.

In another case, the court granted a Marin County woman the right to be the second mother of twins after the birth mother moved out of state. The court also ordered an El Dorado County lesbian to pay child support for her former partner's biological children.

``We perceive no reason why both parents of a child cannot be women,'' California Supreme Court Justice Joyce Kennard wrote in the El Dorado case.

The ruling follows a 2002 decision in which the court concluded that men establishing themselves as parental figures can become legal parents even if they are not biological parents. It also comes amid efforts by two conservative groups to place a 2006 measure on the ballot limiting marriage to heterosexual couples. Though worded differently, each would place a heterosexual definition of marriage into the California Constitution.

Meanwhile, a lower state appellate court is expected to rule - in another case ultimately likely to go to the California Supreme Court - on whether the current ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.

``This means that the stakes are raised on the marriage question that will go before the California Supreme Court and the voters,'' said Christine Sun, a staff lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union in Southern California.

Monday's rulings granting lesbian and gay couples more parenting rights drew ire from conservative groups opposing same-sex unions.

``Despite junk science and frustrating rulings like this, children still need a mother and a father,'' said Randy Thomasson, spokesman for Campaign for Children and Families, one of the groups pushing a 2006 measure banning homosexual marriage.

But gay-rights advocates say more than anything, the rulings favor children.

``This protects children's relationship with those people children have known and depended on as parents for their entire lives. It also gives children the right to legal benefits through both parents, such as health insurance, Social Security and inheritance rights,'' said Shannon Minter, an attorney for the National Center For Lesbian Rights who filed a friend-of-the-court brief on behalf of the center, the ACLU, Legal Services for Children and other advocacy groups.

``Together, these rulings send a clear message that same-sex couples who use assisted reproduction are both legal parents.''

In Lisa R.'s case, the only one originating in Los Angeles County, her name was listed under ``father'' on the birth certificate. She had been with her partner for 10 years before an acrimonious breakup in 2002.

After three attempts at artificial insemination, Kristine H. finally conceived a girl. Previously, she and Lisa R. had yearned for years for a child.

Lauren bears the hyphenated last names of Lisa and Kristine. She calls Lisa ``Mama,'' and Lisa has offered to help pay for her school, medical insurance and other childhood expenses.

``I want to be her parent. I want to be involved in school decisions. That's all I was asking - to be treated as a parent.''

Rachel Uranga, [phone]

rachel.uranga(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

In Encino, the woman known as Lisa R. in a landmark California Supreme Court ruling Monday holds a photo of her daughter born to a former lesbian partner. Lisa R. won full parental rights.

Hans Gutknecht/Staff Photographer