A British lesbian couple have lost an Appeal Court fight to stop the gay father of their two children spending more time with them. The Telegraph reports three appeal judges unanimously rejected the biological mother's bid to overturn an order giving the father joint residency of the children, a boy aged ten and girl aged seven. The pair met after the man put an ad in the Gay Times in 1999 which said "Gay guy wants to be a Dad. White, handsome, solvent 30s, professional, in happy relationship, non-scene, has everything but kids." The father spent time with the children; however his relationship with the lesbian couple deteriorated, with their lawyer claiming the man is "domineering and controlling". A judge in Brighton earlier this year awarded 'shared residency' orders to the mother and father and directed that the children should spend almost half the year with him. The lesbian couple challenged that ruling at the Court of Appeal, but Lady Justice Black, sitting with the Master of the Rolls, Lord Neuberger, and Lord Justice Patten, refused to cut down on the 152 days-a-year the children spend with their father. The judge did recognise the importance of the mother's partner in the children's lives when she said she should be named on the shared residency order, but otherwise dismissed the appeal. Urging the parents to 'put aside their differences' for the sake of the children, Lady Justice Black said: "If the adults do not manage to resolve things by communicating with each other, the children inevitably suffer. "The adults may also pay the price when the children are old enough to be aware of what has been going on."
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Thursday, 2nd December 2010 - 11:29am