Letters: On parental rights court case, Black History Month
Special Judge Lynne McGuire's decision on parental rights harms families
Editor's note: Special Judge Lynne McGuire ruled on Feb. 13 that Oklahoma City resident Kris Williams does not have legal rights to the child her former partner, Rebekah Wilson, conceived with the help of a sperm donor during their relationship. The judge said that although Williams "acted in a parental role" and was listed as "Second Mother" on the birth certificate, she did not adopt the child, is not legally the parent and has no parental rights under Oklahoma law.
I am not a lawyer, but it doesn't take one to know when a judge has abused her power and deprived a child's legal parent of access to her child and deprived that same child of the love and care of their parent.
Someone counted the rights married people automatically have, compared to unmarried couples, and stopped around 1,600 rights. The legal point of making marriage human-human instead of woman-man was to get all those protections applied to all couples otherwise able to marry.
In case this was in doubt, this is what Justice (Anthony) Kennedy wrote (writing the majority opinion for the Supreme Court decision on Obergefell v. Hodges): "A third basis for protecting the right to marry is that it safeguards children and families and thus draws meaning from related rights of childrearing, procreation, and education."
In her Feb. 13, 2023, decision, Special Judge Lynne McGuire stated, in part, that these related rights should not automatically apply to certain married couples. In her mind, the law in question, which makes the spouse of a person giving birth to a child immediately become that child's parent, did not anticipate same-sex marriage and, therefore should not apply. She also pretends that presumption-of-paternity laws are about actual biological parenthood. They are not. They are about family. These laws are in place so someone can marry a child's mother, before the child is born, and have that child be legally theirs, no questions asked.
Even if this unfortunate decision is eventually overruled, this mother and her child can never completely escape the trauma of this wrongful separation.
— Michelle Sernaker, Oklahoma City
Black History Month allows us to grow collectively
Black History Month represents the biggest pushback to the mainstream civil rights and equity movement. In fact, it pushes us forward. It fosters the idea that American history must be integrated with accomplishments and monumental events whose main cast of characters are Black entrepreneurs, artists, activists, scientists, etc.
The entire month allows people of differing ethnicities to focus upon a narrowed group in our American society, learn more than we might normally be attracted toward, and maybe apply that knowledge to a broader perspective of the world around us.
In other words, it represents a contrarian purpose to the current trends of social and civic leaders to attack non-Black individuals and attempt to imbibe them with a sense of shame, despair and fear. It pushes back against normalizing resentment and anger and instead seeks to fill us with a sense of pride in others we might not otherwise recognize.
As a conservative, I continue to be grateful for Black History Month if, for no other reason, the optimism it promotes toward human beings cooperatively growing together with new heroes and heroines of color to inspire everyone in that journey. While there is a definitive understanding of past sins, the month allows us a chance not to mire in the effects, but, like Holocaust Remembrance Day, to remind us of our commitment to one another's greater good.
Such a purpose rises above skin color or the futility of renouncing the past thoroughly. The month pushes us to greater potential opportunities.
— Wayne Hull, Oklahoma City
Arresting marijuana users does not make Oklahoma safer
I was born, raised and still live in my hometown of Stillwater, OK. Marijuana prohibition for adults is clearly wrong. Criminal penalties would make sense if plants were radioactive or explosive. Instead, we pay drug agents to hide in bushes, jump out of bushes and arrest people for smoking bushes!
We can fix Oklahoma’s outdated marijuana law by voting YES on (State Question) 820. It allows adults 21+ to use marijuana legally. Read full text 820.pdf (ok.gov). I believe criminal law should make society healthier and safer. Arresting marijuana users does not meet that standard. It is a dysfunctional law. It wastes public funds, profits unregulated dealers, causes social conflict and spreads paranoia.
Oklahoma’s medical marijuana consumers are living evidence that marijuana should be less restricted. Thousands of Oklahomans are consuming marijuana regularly and behaving safely. We have the receipts to prove it!
Why should the average adult have to waste time and money getting a doctor’s approval? Why should Oklahoma adults have to be on a special list just to use marijuana? We don’t have to do that for more toxic substances like alcohol and tobacco. Proof of age should be good enough.
I fully support Oklahoma’s medical marijuana program. Many people will only try and benefit from marijuana if their doctor approves. Children can only be safely treated through medical marijuana. I totally agree with that restriction being maintained. Marijuana is an amazing medicine, a holy sacrament and a delight of festivity. Please vote YES on SQ 820.
— Jeff Pickens, Stillwater
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Letters: Parental rights court case, Black History Month, 1st Amendment
