The Family Foundation and a pro-family partner, Concerned Women of America (CWA) are asking Virginians to make next Thursday, April 17, 2008 a Day of Prayer for Isabella! The state Supreme Court may be the last hope for Isabella. While individual prayer is necessary, there is power in corporate prayer. Please join us at 8 a.m. that morning for a prayer vigil directly across the street from the courthouse, at the Old Bell Tower near the corner of Bank and 9th Streets, Capitol Square, Richmond, Virginia. At 10 a.m. we will co-host a press conference with CWA to address the merits of the case.
The story may be familiar to you. Janet Jenkins and Lisa Miller began living together in Virginia in the late 1990s and traveled to Vermont on December 19, 2000 in order to enter into a civil union. They continued to reside in Virginia through April 2002, when Lisa gave birth to Isabella, whose father is an anonymous sperm donor. They moved to Vermont in August 2002, where they lived until they broke up in September 2003. Lisa then converted to Christianity and decided to leave the homosexual lifestyle. She took Isabella with her back to Virginia, leaving Janet in Vermont. Lisa then filed in a Vermont court for dissolution of the civil union and for custody of Isabella.
The case worked its way through both Vermont and Virginia courts, pitting Vermont’s “civil unions” against Virginia’s ban on such arrangements and now, the Marriage Amendment to the state Constitution. The Virginia Court of Appeals based its decision to give Vermont courts jurisdiction on the federal Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act (PKPA). PKPA was written to prevent a parent who loses a custody battle in one state from taking a child to another state in an attempt to gain a more favorable ruling. According to the U.S. Supreme Court, PKPA grants jurisdiction to the first state that exercises jurisdiction, which in this case was Vermont. However, in this case, PKPA should not have been the ruling statute.
Lisa’s attorney’s argued that the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) preempts PKPA and returns to each state the authority to determine what constitutes marriage and parental rights. Virginia has made this public policy decision time and again with a ban on same sex marriage, a ban on civil unions and most recently an amendment to the Virginia Constitution defining marriage. Because Virginia gives no legal recognition to civil union and thus does not recognize the relationship between Lisa and Janet, the PKPA shouldn’t apply.
The Court of Appeals avoided conflict by dismissing DOMA’s relevance in the case. This case, according to the Court, is not about one state recognizing another state’s civil unions, but only deals with “whether, considering the PKPA, Virginia can deny full faith and credit to the orders of the Vermont court regarding [Isabella’s] custody and visitation.” For the Court to use the PKPA as binding law in cases where Virginia does not legally recognize the relationship between the two parties is legal precedent that attempts to trump the will of the people of Virginia and flies in the face of the purpose of the federal DOMA.
On August 29, 2007, we asked you to pray for Lisa Miller’s attorneys at the VA Supreme Court. Your prayers were answered and her attorneys were granted an additional opportunity to defend Isabella this coming Thursday!
Over the past several years, we have been sharing with you the various court decisions and legal steps taken in a case involving a child named Isabella, who was born into a civil union. Given the complexity and the conflict that exists between Virginia law and Vermont law, this case has been heard in courts up and down the east coast. Later this week Lisa Miller, Isabella’s biological mother, and her attorneys have plead their case in front of the Virginia state Supreme Court, asking the court to reverse lower court decisions.
Should the Virginia Supreme Court fail to reverse, the Virginia Court of Appeals decision issued in November 2006 will stand as the last word on visitation rights. That decision yielded jurisdiction to the Vermont courts, which then ruled that Lisa’s former partner could have visitation rights. The court-forced visitation began last in August and has continued since then, requiring 5 year-old Isabella to visit a woman she has not seen since the age of 2.
Consequently, you are invited join with the Family Foundation and CWA on Thursday, April 17 at 8 a.m. to pray for Isabella, her attorneys, and the state Supreme Court as this case proceeds. The prayer vigil will be held across the street from the courthouse at the Old Bell Tower, Capital Square, Richmond, Virginia near the corner of Bank and 9th Streets.
By Victoria Cobb, President of the Family Foundation of Virginia.
The State of America's Family 