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Stunning Victory for Mother and Daughter Deals Major Defeat to Homosexual Legal Agenda
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Titanic showdown between ADF and our allies and radical advocates of homosexual behavior ends with God-given victory at the Utah Supreme Court!
Today, radical advocates of homosexual behavior--including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)--will stop at nothing to advance the homosexual legal agenda, even if it means forcibly separating children from their parents.
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By God's grace and thanks to the faithful, dedicated prayers and support of our ministry friends, the Alliance Defense Fund is increasingly able to stand up to them. As you're about to read, the results are a beautiful testament to what God will do when His people provide resources and help others persevere through trial--especially on their knees in prayer--for as long as it takes to win...
At 17, Cheryl Barlow decided she had "failed" as a woman--that she was not "pretty enough or feminine enough or domestic enough." Shortly thereafter, she began a decades--long experience with what she calls "the revolving door" of relationships in the lesbian community.
During that time, Cheryl also took an active role advancing the homosexual legal agenda, serving as a national board member for the Human Rights Campaign--the largest special interest group in |
the United States dedicated exclusively to advocating homosexual behavior. By any standard, Cheryl was fully committed to that cause.
In 2001, five months after becoming pregnant by artificial insemination, she traveled to Vermont to enter into a "civil union"--one of several such "commitments" she had made over the years--this time with a woman from Utah.
Exodus
After returning to her home state of Utah, Cheryl gave birth to a daughter. Around this time, Cheryl began questioning her identity as a "lesbian." A short time later, her relationship with the Utah woman, which had always been rocky, deteriorated further, and the two separated. With a precious daughter to care for, Cheryl's search for truth led her to leave her lesbian behavior behind, and she began attending church.
Then came a complicated turn. The Utah woman demanded a role in the raising of Cheryl's daughter. After a couple of acquiescing visits until Cheryl secured legal counsel, Cheryl decided to cut off contact in the best interests of her daughter.
The woman responded by suing for visitation, claiming she was a "psychological parent."
The case was a complete surprise for a number of reasons. To begin with, the woman had no biological or adoptive link to the little girl--in fact, she had seemed to resent the baby's presence, leading in part to the breakup. Furthermore, Utah has a state marriage amendment that specifically forbids recognition of civil unions between people engaged in homosexual behavior. And what is a "psychological parent"?
But as Cheryl soon learned, the lawsuit was about far more than parental custody--it was part of a much larger battle for the national homosexual legal agenda.
Redemption
By God's grace, a friend from church introduced Cheryl to Frank Mylar, an ADF-allied attorney who graduated from the ADF National Litigation AcademySM. He enthusiastically agreed to represent her, and ADF funded the costs of his work. In the midst of the legal battle, Frank led Cheryl in prayer as she committed her life to Christ.
But as Cheryl admits, the beginning of her Christian walk was like "being in the fire."
Even though the case began well when a court commissioner immediately dismissed the lawsuit based on Utah's marriage amendment, things went downhill fast. Unfortunately, Cheryl's former partner appealed, and the case was designated to a state judge who was highly supportive of the homosexual legal agenda. While Mr. Mylar was presenting his argument on behalf of Cheryl's parental rights, the judge accused him of "hating gay people." The |
Frank Mylar
ADF-Allied Attorney
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judge also ridiculed Cheryl, sarcastically asking, "So you're not a homosexual anymore, are you?"
Worst of all, he ruled against her, ordering visitation.
During these visits, Cheryl's daughter--by then over three years old--was exposed to numerous instances of homosexual behavior that were deliberately used to undermine the Christian values and beliefs Cheryl was trying to instill in her. That took its toll, as Cheryl explains:
"[My daughter] just turn[ed] into someone I didn't recognize. . . . [She was] wetting the bed [reacting to unfamiliar behavior] and scratching her friends. . . and having nightmares and just having wild, out-of-control tantrums, trying to cope with this adult battle that was thrust on her."
As ADF ally Frank Mylar appealed her case to the Utah Supreme Court, Cheryl grew increasingly concerned for her daughter's welfare. To protect her, she moved to Texas and initially did comply with the visitation order. However, she stopped visitation from August to December 2006 before she was ordered by the court to resume visitation or face a seven-day jail sentence. But in February 2007, Cheryl stopped visitation when the judge ordered that the other woman be allowed overnight visitation with Cheryl's daughter. As a result, Cheryl was held in contempt of court, pending the Utah Supreme Court decision. Her freedom depended on the state's High Court overruling the lower court.
By this time, several of the well-funded power players pushing the homosexual legal agenda, including the ACLU and the National Center for Lesbian Rights, were heavily involved in the case. They hoped to establish a new demand--that of "psychological parenthood," an invention that would further weaken traditional family structures and create new problems.
With so much at stake, the case dragged on--the Utah Supreme Court deliberated for more than a year and a half.
Victory!
Finally, by the abundant and overwhelming grace of God, the Utah Supreme Court overruled the lower court, affirming Cheryl's parental rights and denying her former partner's visitation demands--a ruling that also kept Cheryl from prison!
As Cheryl looks back on the case, she says, "I have told people countless times that the reason we won this battle was because of God, but the reason I could fight this battle is because of ADF. Because I think that is how they [the ACLU and its allies] intimidate people, they strong-arm people and they money-muscle people--because who could fight it [alone]?"
Yet today, even as Cheryl acknowledges the intense difficulty of her long ordeal, she also sees how God was working through it all. ADF is also involved in a similar case in Maryland, and the God-given, nation-shaping legal victory at the Utah Supreme Court will play an important role in both cases.
So even as you thank God with all of us at ADF for this glorious victory, please also keep these cases--and so many others we are fighting--in your prayers. By God's grace, a victory has been won, but the battle is far from over.
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