Pa Court Backs Gay Parent

A Pennsylvania appellate court ruled that a parent's same-sex relationship cannot be used against the parent in determining child custody, in a rejection of a 25-year-old state legal precedent.

According to the Associated Press, the eight-judge superior court panel issued the decision last month in a custody battle between a mother and father identified by their initials. The court also reversed a lower court ruling that awarded primary custody to the father and said the mother, who is gay, could continue shared custody.

"In doing so, the judges overruled a 1985 Superior Court decision that said a parent must prove that his or her gay relationship is not detrimental to the child," reported the AP.

"That presumption 'is based upon unsupported preconceptions and prejudices -- including that the sexual orientation of a parent will have an adverse effect on the child, and that the traditional heterosexual household is superior to that of the household of a parent involved in a same sex relationship,' Judge Christine Donohue wrote in the Jan. 21 opinion," according to the AP.