Re-cap

A British lesbian couple have lost their appeal against a court custody ruling granting the father, who they met through an ad in Gay Times, joint residency of their children.

The lesbian and her long-term partner, who cannot be named for legal reasons, took their case to the Court of Appeal after the sperm donor father won a shared residency order earlier this year, which allowed him to see his children for almost half the time.

Last month the Court of Appeal heard that the 51-year-old man, a wealthy company director, placed an advert in the Gay Times newspaper in 1999, pleading to become a father.

It read: ‘Gay guy wants to be a dad. White, handsome, solvent 30s, professional in happy relationship, non-scene, has everything but kids. Looking for a similar female couple who want to have kids. I require a little involvement. I have a lot to offer.’

The lesbian couple replied and the children were conceived through artificial insemination. The father spent time with the children; however his relationship with the lesbian couple deteriorated, with their lawyer claiming the man is "domineering and controlling".

A judge in Brighton earlier this year awarded joint residency orders to the mother and father and directed that the children should spend almost half the year with him.

The lesbian couple challenged that ruling at the Court of Appeal, but their appeal was unanimously rejected.

One of the judges, Lady Justice Black, did recognise the importance of the mother's partner in the children's lives when she said she should be named on the shared residency order, but otherwise dismissed the appeal.

Urging the parents to 'put aside their differences' for the sake of the children, Lady Justice Black, one of three judges presiding, said: "If the adults do not manage to resolve things by communicating with each other, the children inevitably suffer.

"The adults may also pay the price when the children are old enough to be aware of what has been going on."

What do you think?

GL:)