An initiative approved by Oregon voters bans same-sex marriage, and a civil unions bill that might have clarified the rights of non-biological gay parents failed to gain legislative approval. Still, same- sex couples, as in many other states, can adopt, or have children with the aid of what some progressive types like to antiseptically term a "sperm donor."

It's proving difficult for Jeana Frazzini, the non-biological lesbian co-parent of a Portland toddler, to get recognition from the state as the child's father, which she sought. In fact, the "father" blank on the birth certificate was returned blank, so two years later, she's suing the state. Today, as a matter of fact.

K.D. Parman and Jeana Frazzini found the birth certificate in their mailbox after a walk on a sunny spring day two years ago. Frazzini excitedly opened it, expecting to see the document that would officially declare them legal parents of their new baby, Emmett Parman. But only the name of Parman, the birth mother, was on the document. Frazzini's name had been erased and left blank. The women were stunned. "That was very sad," said Frazzini, 33, her eyes welling tears Tuesday as she recalled the moment. She wondered what the state gains by stepping between her and her family. "I don't know what can be more personal then getting between a parent and a child," she said. "It really makes you fierce."

So fierce that she and Parman will file a lawsuit against the state of Oregon today, arguing that the state is illegally discriminating against Frazzini on the basis of her gender and sexual orientation by denying her parental rights. "With a stroke of a pen, someone in an office somewhere wrote me out of my son's life," Frazzini said.

Excuse me. She's in her son's life every day. So right now in Oregon, women can't be called fathers. Oh, where is the social justice? Having the right appurtenance is no guarantee that a male breeder will really become a father, but lacking that appurtenance, one cannot be called a father. Binary gender hierarchies are a bummer like that.

Parman, who gave birth to the now-two-year-old, is indisputably the mother. Without Oregon legal status as a spouse to the biological mother, and minus any biological connection to the child, Frazzini remains a de-facto parent. That would be a source of some joy if for her, if she actually cared more for the child than her identity politics crusade. Her class lacks the influence to win official parental status in the political arena, hence she seeks legislation from the bench disguised as remediation of a "discrimination" claim.

If Frazzini is declared a legal father to the child, would any sisters of hers become "uncles?" Just wondering.

TECHNORATI TAGS: PORTLAND, OREGON, LESBIAN FATHER, LAWSUIT

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at April 5, 2006 02:04 PM

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