Utah judge reverses order to take baby from lesbian couple

“That’s a big relief”.

“We’re very happy to see movement on this issue, and we’re looking forward to a swift and happy resolution to this case”, he said.

Friday’s development comes after Johansen said in court Tuesday that the baby would be removed from the couple’s home.

State officials and an attorney for the women filed court documents demanding the judge rescind his decision.

“It is unconscionable that any judge would let bias interfere with determining the true best interest of a child and we strongly encourage the commission to take appropriate action to hold this judge accountable and to affirm that personal bias has no place in judicial decisions in Utah”.

“We all make mistakes as humans. Sometimes they come out in the wrong setting”, said Peirce, a paramedic.

The couple told the Salt Lake City TV station the judge told them on Tuesday that research indicated children who are raised in same-sex parent homes do not do as well as children who are raised by heterosexual couples.

The state’s child welfare agency applauded the reversal today but cautioned that it might not be permanent.

“This is all about sexual orientation, not what is best for the child”, Peirce said.

That language was crossed out in Johansen’s new order.

Johansen then ordered the 9-month-old foster daughter of April Hoagland and Beckie Peirce to be taken out of their care so the Utah Division of Child and Family Services could find the girl heterosexual parents. They are already raising Beckie’s two children, aged 12 and 14. They were anxious about what would happen to their girls at school in the small central Utah city with about 8,400 people. A spokeswoman for the Utah Division of Child and Family Services, Ashley Sumner, spoke out about the agencies’ brief respite and lingering concerns about the case.

Even Republican Governor Gary Herbert, who had fought same-sex marriage in his state until the U.S. Supreme Court decision in June legalizing gay matrimony nationwide, had said that he was “puzzled” by the judge’s order.

“We’re just concerned about the decision and why he made it and on what grounds he made it”, Platt said.

He would not reveal who is paying legal bills for the couple, nor would he comment on whether a complaint may be filed against the judge, but said his clients are optimistic they would prevail. But Hunnicutt called the initial decision a constitutional violation and harmful to the baby.

The full transcript of the ruling is not public record because Utah keeps foster care cases private. Marks concluded, “Not one of the 59 studies referenced in the 2005 APA Brief compares a large, random, representative sample of lesbian or gay parents and their children with a large, random, representative sample of married parents and their children”.

The organization seeks a quick decision ahead of the custody hearing.

“The judicial system is getting it right”, Honeycutt said.