Virginia

A battle over whether child-placement agencies should be allowed to discriminate against prospective parents and children based on their sexual orientation has moved to Virginia's General Assembly. Sen. Adam Ebbin, D-Alexandria, has introduced legislation that would bar Virginia from contracting with or funding agencies that discriminate against children or otherwise eligible prospective foster or adoptive parents solely on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, family status, disability, sexual orientation or gender identity.

Second Lady Jill Biden spoke out for supportive parenting and against school bullying as the keynote speaker at the biannual national convention of Parents, Families and Friends of Gays and Lesbians. She pointed to progress for gay rights under the Obama administration, including the signing of a hate crimes prevention act and the repeal of the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

According to a new independent Quinnipiac University statewide poll, Virginians area ready to see the ban on adoptions by same-sex couples there come to an end. Fifty-one percent said the state should allow couples of the same gender to adopt children, 43 percent supported the present ban, and six percent had no opinion. Democrats, 67 percent; independents, 52 percent; and women, 54 percent; favored same-sex adoptions. Only 33 percent of Republicans polled said they would endorse same-sex adoptions.

A Tennessee pastor who allegedly helped Lisa Miller [pictured] abscond to central America with her 9-year-old daughter has been charged with aiding a kidnapping, the latest twist in a long-running custody dispute between former lesbian partners.

Lisa Miller may have kidnapped her daughter - and fled to Central America. Miller failed to appear for a court-ordered custody swap in January with Janet Jenkins - her former lesbian partner. Jenkins' attorney believes Miller took their daughter to El Salvador last September.

The Washington Blade reports that new ads are appearing on Christian radio and television stations in Virginia in an attempt to block a custody agreement handed down by a local Family Court judge.

Lisa Miller continues to fight against her former civil partner over their young daughter.

The U.S. Supreme Court has let stand a ruling that Virginia must enforce a Vermont court order awarding child-visitation rights to a lesbian mom.

The decision let stand a victory for Janet Jenkins [pictured], who has been fighting for visitation rights since the dissolution of the civil union she and her partner obtained in Vermont in 2000. Jenkin's partner gave birth to the daughter, Isabella, in 2002, and the child was at the center of a legal battle.