Lesbian granted joint custody after split

A judge in Montana granted a woman joint custody of two children she and her former lesbian partner adopted when they were a couple. Michelle Kulstad sought joint custody of her 8-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter after she and former partner Barbara Maniaci split up in 2006 after a 10-year relationship.

Maniaci, who is now married to a man, says she and her husband should raise the children as they see fit because Kulstad was neither an adoptive parent nor a biological relative. She was represented by an attorney from the conservative Alliance Defense Fund.

"To discriminate further against Ms. Kulstad because of her sexual preference in this day and age is no different than telling a person to go to the back of the bus because of her skin color," district judge Ed McLean wrote.

"By acknowledging Kulstad as a parent, the court today recognized that it would be both cruel and against established Montana law for her children to be denied the parental love and support Kulstad has shown them since they entered her home," Kulstad’s attorney Susan Ridgeway said in a press release.