Mixed reactions to lesbian custody case
The Gay and Lesbian Equality Network welcomed the ruling declaring that the couple and the baby constituted a family but the Fathers Rights Party said the decision was “outrageous” and reduced unmarried fathers to the status of “sperm donors”.
Christian values group the Iona Institute condemned the ruling as “anti-child and anti-father” and Fine Gael said it exposed the government’s “paralysis” in failing to make laws to deal with such dilemmas.
The case involved a lesbian couple who had a baby in 2006 by artificial insemination using the sperm of a gay friend who was to take on the role of a “favourite uncle” but have no parenting or financial responsibilities towards the child.
When the couple announced plans to live abroad for a year, the baby’s father applied to the courts for legal guardianship and obtained an injunction preventing them leaving.
The High Court this week returned a judgment rejecting the father’s claim to guardianship on the grounds that his only link to the baby was biological.
Mr Justice John Hedigan said: “I have no doubt that A [the father] has himself formed a bond with the baby but there has been no opportunity for the baby to have formed any attachment to him.”
David Quinn, of the Iona Institute, described the decision as “extraordinary”.
“The fact that the man in this case is a sperm donor in no way lessens the fact that he is the child’s father and that the child has a right to know his father and to have some measure of contact.”
That view was echoed by Liam O’Gogain of the Fathers Rights Party who said the case should act as a warning to all unmarried fathers. “The judgment is outrageous to all fathers and children in this land and really underlines the need for unmarried fathers to wake up and get guardianship.”
Mr Justice Hedigan also ruled that the couple and the baby were a family unit under the European Convention on Human Rights.
As there was no Irish constitutional law on same-sex couples, there was no reason why they should be treated differently to unmarried heterosexual couples.
The judge added that there was a need for Irish law dealing with all the issues raised by the case, namely assisted reproduction, same-sex families and unmarried fathers.
Fine Gael spokesman Alan Shatter said the lack of legislation showed the Government had abdicated its responsibilities. “The need for such legislation has been blindingly obvious,” he said, but the Government was “paralysed by the fear of it generating controversy”.
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