Hello everyone! Thank you for subscribing to the newsletter for Diana Adams Law & Mediation, PLLC. This monthly newsletter keeps you informed about the legal and activism work we are doing to support LGBTQI, polyamorous, and other nontraditional families. This month, we send messages of progress even in these trying political times, to keep us hopeful enough to resist.

In this month’s newsletter:

• Diana’s Family Law Work in Europe

• Successful Three-Parent Custody Awarded in New York!

• Erotic Evolution with Amy Jo Goddard this Wednesday, March 15th!

• Where in the World are Diana and Andy? Diana’s Latest Travel Schedule

Since January 2016, Diana has been traveling between our NY office and our Frankfurt, Germany office. Diana still sees NY clients remotely via video, but also supports Americans in Europe. In 2016, Diana was named Director of the Euro LGBT Family Law Institute (Euro FLI), which unites top legal leaders supporting LGBTQ families with one or two representatives for each country. It’s been incredibly exciting to bring these lawyers together for the first time, and to try to create a coordinated movement between them. For several years, Diana (and now Andy) has been one of the NY representatives at U.S. FLI.

The Family Law Institute is a joint venture of the National LGBT Bar and the National Center for Lesbian Rights, allowing experienced LGBT family law practitioners to share collective wisdom and to discuss cutting-edge legal strategies for representing members of the LGBT community. The Euro FLI is a separate international group from the main FLI organization specific to Europe.

Our esteemed Euro FLI colleague in Italy, Alexander Schuster, has achieved major victories there just in the past month. In February, he won a decision recognizing two gay fathers for the first time, and last week he won a case on sexual orientation discrimination including heavy compensatory damages by the employer.

While Europe’s LGBTQ movement is a generation behind the U.S. and winning victories for same-sex marriage and parenting rights only now, it is in a time of tremendous and exciting change.

Diana has become a thought leader on the international LGBTQ movement, and on cultural and legal differences between the U.S. and Europe on LGBTQ rights. Throughout the year, Diana will be travelling in Europe, and welcomes professionals in regions where she will be traveling to get in touch.  She would also be happy to give a presentation or lecture at organizations or schools who might benefit from her knowledge of international LGBTQ Family Law, and does speak at corporate firms honoring Pride Month or Christopher Street Day.

Currently, Diana has plans to travel to Vienna in April, Berlin in August, and Valencia in September (see our Where In The World section below for specific dates.) Please get in touch by emailing contact@dianaadamslaw.net if you’d like to connect with Diana in Europe or suggest a speaking engagement.

A report on the impacts of this groundbreaking case from Diana:

On March 8, 2017, the Supreme Court of Suffolk County, NY granted “tri-custody” to the non-biological, non-adoptive third parent of a child in a three-parent family! This decision is groundbreaking for the polyamorous community and for all parents in NY who do not have a biological or legal relationship with their child.

Laws on parental status differ by state, which is one of the challenges for some of our clients, whose parenting status may differ as they travel between states, going in and out like their cell phone service.

In most states, and in NY state where we practice, courts prefer to recognize only two parents, and traditionally biological ties to a child ruled. Now, parents by adoption, and legal parents by way of marriage to a birth mother before the birth of the child with a name on the birth certificate, are recognized in NY and many states. The next frontier, which we continue to push, are the rights of parents who have a parental relationship with a child without a legal tie, such as:

• female same-sex partners of birth mothers, who have a parental relationship with the child but did not marry the birth mother or do a second parent adoption, or

• non-biological third parents in polyamorous triads and other three-parent family situations.

Some other states have recognized de facto parents or psychological parents but NY had not. In this case, a New York court recognized a third parent in a polyamorous triad, who had no biological or legal tie to the child, as a parent! This NY court used the words de facto parent, which is new for our state, and progress.

This is an exciting moment that could be useful for other NY cases, although it is not controlling Appeals Court precedent. The facts in this case are relevant to whether it could be applicable to others. The non-biological third parent was married to one of the biological parents from before the birth, intended by all parties to be a parent to the child from before conception, the child knew her as a second mother for his whole life, and at 10 years old was able to articulate his desires to court, such that the court found that separating him from his non-bio mother would be damaging to him and counter to his best interests.

A third parent who enters a child’s life after the child’s birth might be treated differently, and courts still retain a tremendous amount of discretion as they interpret the subjective standard of “best interests of the child,” which can vary tremendously in more conservative rural areas.

If you have questions or concerns about your parenting rights and would like to make sure you are doing everything you can legally to protect them, contact our office for a consultation:  http://www.dianaadamslaw.net/contact-us/request-a-consultation

The full text of this exciting decision: http://nycourts.gov/reporter/3dseries/2017/2017_27073.htm

Our wonderful colleague Amy Jo Goddard has just released a FREE video training series for women on “Erotic Evolution: 3 Steps to Sexual Self-Acceptance, Deeper Relationships and Profound Pleasure.”

This video series will go live tomorrow Wednesday, March 15th.

This complimentary training is for you if:

- you feel like there's a "missing piece" in your sexuality

- you want to have MORE in your sexual life and relationships

- you believe sexuality is an integral part of your wholeness

- you don't feel as sexually connected or expressed as you would like

- you want to be able to ask for what you want without minimizing it, feeling guilty, or worrying about how other people will react

We highly recommend this opportunity to get free teachings from Amy Jo, who has not only been a top sexuality educator for decades, but who is also culturally-aware and supportive to clients who are LGBTQI, poly, and kinky, and who operates from an intersectional perspective on gender, race, and class. She’s really an exceptional educator, and this is a great chance to work with her. Check it out here!

Amy Jo also published a wonderful book in 2015 on women’s sexual empowerment called Woman on Fire that is also highly recommended. Enjoy!

Diana’s Schedule:

Diana travels between New York City and Frankfurt, Germany, managing our European and NY offices, and is available to clients in both regions, with frequent touring of the U.S. and Europe in between. Diana welcomes opportunities to meet with clients and do speaking appearances along her travels.

• April 27-30, 2017: Vienna, Austria

• July 2017: NYC

• August 1-7, 2017: San Francisco for LGBT Bar’s Lavender Law conference

• August 26-31, 2017: Berlin, Germany

• September 9-13, 2017: Valencia, Spain

• Late September-Early October 2017: Upstate NY and NYC

• October 6-8, 2017: Diana teaches at Omega Institute’s Women & Power conference

Please contact us if you’d like to schedule time to meet with Diana for a consultation while she is in your city.

Andy’s Schedule:

Andy is based in New York City and available to clients there unless otherwise noted below.

• March 2nd-17th: Out of the office

• August 1-7, 2017: San Francisco for LGBT Bar’s Lavender Law conference