Decision more than just a victory for litigant

[kweerwolf]

Kim M. knows the California Supreme Court ruling Monday that she is a parent to her 9-year-old twin daughters is a historic victory for gay and lesbian rights, but it means even more than that to her.

"Next to the day my daughters were born, it is the happiest day of my life," said Kim M., 43, a Marin County resident who hasn't seen or talked to her daughters in nearly a year.

Kim's former partner, who had Kim's fertilized eggs implanted in her uterus and gave birth to the girls, moved with them to Boston in 2001 after the couple broke up. Kim saw her daughters for less than one minute last September, her last contact with them. Two lower courts declined to declare her a parent.

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The decisions could affect thousands of California children with gay and lesbian parents, said Courtney Joslin, senior staff attorney at San Francisco's National Center for Lesbian Rights.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/08/23/MNGM2EBO5O1.DTL&hw=gay&sn=003&sc=836