Appeals court rules against lesbian in key test of civil unions

By

Posted 5:25PM on Friday, January 25, 2002

ATLANTA - In the first test of whether Vermont's civil union law applies in other states, the Georgia Court of Appeals has ruled against a lesbian couple seeking child visitation rights, saying their partnership does not equal marriage. The court ruled against Susan Freer of Atlanta, who was fighting a lower court order that her three children from a previous marriage could not stay overnight with her and her partner. The couple established a civil union in Vermont in 2000. A divorce agreement signed by Freer and her ex-husband bars the children from overnight visits with a parent living with someone to whom they are not married or related. Freer had argued that the Georgia right-to-privacy law compels the state to recognize her civil union as a legal marriage. Judge M. Yvette Miller wrote for a three-judge panel of the appeals court ``Susan's position, however, has a flawed premise. She and her female companion were not married in Vermont.'' The ruling Wednesday said Vermont law does not make civil unions legally equivalent to marriage. Even if it had, the court said ``Georgia is not required to give full faith and credit to same-sex marriages of other states.'' Mathew Staver, attorney for the ex-husband, Darian Burns, said today his client was elated by the ruling. Staver said, ``He's been very concerned. He doesn't believe that lesbianism or homosexuality is appropriate to be displayed in an overnight setting in front of his children.'' The Georgia Legislature has barred recognition of same-sex marriage in the state. Gay rights advocates say the Constitution's ``full faith and credit'' clause requires that same-sex marriages in one state be recognized everywhere else.