Georgia Equality backs eight judicial candidates
24th October 2008
Superior Court judges wield the power to define parental relationships, dissolve partnerships and determine gender identity and name changes, yet their races get little attention from media and voters.
Family law attorney Barbara Katz routinely appears in the Superior Court representing adoption and domestic partnership issues.
“Even if you just had a normal break up of a gay or lesbian relationship, and there was a substantial amount of property involved, it could still end up in front of a Superior Court judge, not as a divorce proceeding because they can’t sit on our relationships, but as a dissolution of a partnership,” she said.
Georgia Equality is the only gay organization to make endorsements for Superior Court and Court of Appeals judges in Georgia this year; after sifting through 21 questionnaires and interviewing several candidates, it issued eight endorsements.
While judges have to be careful not to make statements that could show bias in cases that might come before them, Georgia Equality Executive Director Jeff Graham said they evaluated judges on their fairness toward gay and transgender issues. They also looked to reach out beyond the perimeter.
“Certainly those of us who live in Fulton and DeKalb counties are oftentimes blessed to have several candidates who hold fair views on LGBT issues, but in many other areas that is not the case,” Graham said. “So that is one reason why this year we looked at extending our geographic reach.”
ADOPTION DENIED
Finding information on judges is often more difficult than other elected officials. Judges need to be impartial, and are reluctant to provide personal information. Katz, a lesbian, researched a number of Superior Court races.
“Superior Court judges, when they are judging on matters that involve children, whether adoption or fostering, they are supposed to rule on what is best for a child and that can be very subjective,” Katz said. “A judge is allowed to look at a parent’s morality, how good of a role model are they for a child, and that is where a judge who is fair will look at someone’s sexual orientation and treat them the same.”
In some cases, Georgia judges have taken children away from parents because of the parent’s sexual orientation. Superior Court Judge John Lee Parrott of the Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit refused to allow Elizabeth Hadaway to adopt the young girl she had been raising — at the request of the girl's mother — when he learned that Hadaway is a lesbian.
Parrott ordered Hadaway to return the child to her birth mother, who insisted that the girl remain with Hadaway. Parrott then ordered the child into foster care and charged Hadaway with contempt of court. After months of court battles, Emma was returned to Hadaway.
Parrot is running for re-election and Georgia Equality has endorsed his challenger Jack Nebl, and is conducting calls on Nebl’s behalf.
“It’s not just an instance of anyone is better than Parrot, but Jack Nebl, we believe through interviewing him, he would be a much better judge, and really provide fairness and justice for anyone, lesbian, gay or transgender, who would appear before him in court,” Graham said.
TIGHT RACE IN DEKALB?
In some judicial races, like DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Linda Hunter’s reelection bid against Tom Stubbs, both candidates want gay voters’ support.
“This is a race where a challenger is showing just as much support as the incumbent, if not more,” Stubbs said. He aggressively sought the Georgia Equality endorsement and was disappointed not to win the group’s approval.
“She has ruled appropriately on same-sex second-parent adoption, and on that one issue her record is laudable, but I think I’ll be there, and more, on those issues, and perhaps a little bit better respected as well,” Stubbs said.
Stubbs has an expansive list of Democratic endorsements including former Gov. Roy Barnes, several state lawmakers and Georgia Equality Board Member Kathleen Womack.
Hunter said she was the first DeKalb Superior Court Judge to grant a joint same-sex adoption and second to do so in the state of Georgia. She said she doesn't consider the sexual orientation or gender identity of those who come before her.
“It has even come up in divorce proceedings where one spouse will say their partner left them for someone of the same sex, and I respond 'So? Let's move on,'” she said.
Hunter pointed to her 17-year record of granting gay adoptions, name changes and gender changes.
“Instead of my own self gratification, look at my record. It's one thing to have a plan, it's another to walk the walk and talk the talk,” she said.
Among Hunter’s endorsements are gay parents Rob and Clay Calhoun, who have a testimonial placed on Hunter’s website. When Hunter granted the couple’s adoption of their daughter, Rainey, it was believed to be the first joint adoption by a gay couple in the county.
COURT OF APPEALS RACE DIFFICULT
The race for an open seat on the state Court of Appeals has drawn seven candidates. Graham said determining a Court of Appeals judge’s stand on gay issues is more difficult because the judge has to be more guarded in what they say.
After an internal debate, Georgia Equality endorsed attorney Sara Doyle.
“In this race there were fewer candidates who had sought the endorsement,” Graham said, noting that half of the potential judges returned questionnaires. “We just felt that Sara Doyle had a better understanding of fairness and justice.”
In her own research, Katz suggested either Michael Meyer Von Bremen or Bruce Edenfield as fair-minded candidates.
Perry McGuire is a well-funded candidate who has received the endorsement of a number of Republican and socially conservative groups. During an unsuccessful 2006 run for Georgia Attorney General, McQuire told a Christian news website he wanted to see “homosexuality-affirming student clubs banned from the state's schools.”
McGuire and fellow candidate Mike Sheffield responded to a Georgia Christian Alliance survey and said they disagreed with the Supreme Court’s decision to include “homosexual sodomy” in the country’s privacy rights. They also disagreed with Roe v. Wade.
Source: SOVO