For the first two years of her son’s life, Kris Williams read him the book “Love You Forever” before bedtime most nights. She took him to the park every Saturday.
In the middle of the pandemic, Williams cut out the cardboard babies on the front of diaper boxes and set them around the house — imaginary friends for W. when he couldn’t safely socialize.
Two years after their son’s birth, Williams and her wife, Rebekah Wilson, had started to split.
The split was nasty, Williams said, but she wasn’t prepped for the news she would receive at the couple’s divorce hearing in Oklahoma City last January.
Williams and Wilson are legally married and decided to have W. together, according to Williams, with Wilson carrying the baby. But within 15 minutes of the hearing starting, Oklahoma County District Court Judge Lynne McGuire declared that because Williams had not adopted her son, she was not his legal parent. McGuire ordered that Williams be struck from W.’s birth certificate. In her place would go the couple’s sperm donor, who was now petitioning for custody.
“My body instantly started shaking,” Williams said. “I mean pure terror, as a queer person, to be erased.”
Williams has filed a motion to reconsider her case that is set to be heard on June 1. If the case makes its way to the appellate court, the ACLU of Oklahoma plans to step in, said Williams’ attorney Hanna Roberts. Wilson and her lawyer declined multiple requests for an interview.
I think it’s absolutely friggin’ ridiculous that this is even an issue! Obviously, the two women are the parents of this child! And no matter what happens, the next step is to SUE the attorney who handled the legalities surrounding the sperm donor (IF they even used one)! We desperately need a federal law to outline the parental rights (or lack therein) of BOTH sperm donors, AND male rape victims! If you donated sperm, you should have absolutely ZERO parental rights, and I'm willing to bet that they asked a gay friend to be a sperm donor, and didn't even use a lawyer! In which case, he has just as much of a parental right as the woman who gave birth, with mom #2 having zero rights or say in the matter! But the same goes the other way around. Two lesbians marry, get a gay friend to donate sperm, a pregnancy results, and eventually the lesbians divorce, but mom goes after the gay man for child support, because the gay lawyer earns more than the lesbian artist, and every court in America will order HIM, and NOT the “other mom” to pay child support w/o an adoption in place! Just another screwed up way mens reproductive rights need to be codified in the law. The 14yo rape victim of a predator teacher should NEVER have to pay child support!
Okay I read a bit more, seems like they didn't go through an agency so the sperm donor never waived his rights... This is why it's important when doing surrogacy, or donor situations to go through actual agencies so everything is handled correctly.
Other than that I think it's so stupid that one of the couple has to adopt the child.
Yeah, I don't get that at all. A sperm donor is just a sperm donor. You would think the court would have treated the couple the same way they would a heterosexual couple, with one of the parents maintaining custody.
Welcome to Gilead.
Williams and Wilson are legally married and decided to have W. together, according to Williams, with Wilson carrying the baby. But within 15 minutes of the hearing starting, Oklahoma County District Court Judge Lynne McGuire declared that because Williams had not adopted her son, she was not his legal parent. McGuire ordered that Williams be struck from W.’s birth certificate. In her place would go the couple’s sperm donor, who was now petitioning for custody.
That's awful. It seems that the mom who carried their son is being selfish/toxic. They had intended, as a married couple, to both be parents to this child and it's terrible that one of these partners is being fucked over. Also questionable is the sperm donor now wanting custody. Uh, what? They're the sperm DONOR. That's it. I wonder if that's a family friend who is siding with Wilson to try and keep the kid away from Williams. Who is on the birth certificate? They should have had both Williams and Wilson be on it. That's fucked up. . .
From this 3 second tid bit of info about the case, it sounds like injustice to me... However, each state has their laws. Family laws, marital laws, adoption laws, etc. Why didn't the wife legally adopt the boy? Most states would technically see her as a stepmother unless she filed the paperwork.
As for the "sperm donor" not coming from an agency... Was this some guy pal that agreed to let these women have his sperm? Was this some scam being run by a guy wanting a surrogate?
There's so many questions. This isn't adding up, but I'm sure the news clip will get a lot of emotions running and preconceived notions regarding the location.
@mVCyberduVm It’s heartbreaking. They aren’t being fair about it at all. They definitely didn’t go through the process in the right way (I read the article) but she’s raised that child as her own, he was her own from the start.
I wonder if they could do anything tricky and go for abandonment against the dad. It sounds like they got a shitty pick of judge to be honest.
From the wording of the article, it kind of sounds like the mother that carried the child is being a bit of a bitch about it. I could have completely misread that though.
Was the decision based on her inability to raise a child and his glowing attributes, or is it just yet another political jesture we've come to expect from certain states.
I get that, I’ve read it to my kids. I’m just saying it creeps me out 🤷♂️. The authors kid died so that’s what it’s about. I think her kid died at childbirth
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