Des homosexuelles séparées obtiennent l'autorité parentale partagée

La justice a octroyé en décembre dernier l'autorité parentale partagée à un couple séparé d'homosexuelles, au profit de la femme qui n'avait pas porté l'enfant. Une décision judiciaire qui reste encore exceptionnelle en France : un seul précédent avait eu lieu jusqu'alors, à Rennes, en 2009.

C'est la deuxième fois en France, et la première fois à Paris, qu'une cour d'appel donne la délégation-partage de l'autorité parentale à un couple homosexuel séparé. Ce qui signifie que les deux membres du couple ont désormais une autorité parentale reconnue sur l'enfant élevé en commun jusqu'à leur séparation. L'arrêt rendu le 1er décembre 2011 par la cour d'appel de Paris concerne deux homosexuelles, dont l'une avait porté l'enfant : elle partagera donc l'exercice de cette autorité parentale avec son ex-compagne. La première décision de ce type pour un couple séparé avait été rendue par la cour d'appel de Rennes le 30 octobre 2009. Avant cela, en cas de rupture du couple, celui ou celle qui n'avait pas de lien biologique avec l'enfant perdait tout simplement tout droit, et pouvait même ne jamais revoir l'enfant si son ex-compagne ou ex-compagnon s'y opposait.

L'avocate des deux femmes a expliqué avoir attendu que le délai de pourvoi ait expiré ce 14 février 2012 à minuit, pour faire la publicité de la décision rendue à Paris en décembre dernier, qui devient définitive. Dans cet arrêt, la cour d'appel de Paris écrit que "depuis leur séparation intervenue en 2005 après dix ans de vie commune", les deux femmes ont "d'un commun accord, organisé la vie des enfants" avec des gardes partagées et des vacances tous ensemble. "Le maintien de ce mode de vie dont bénéficient les enfants depuis six années, grâce au comportement bienveillant et responsable" des deux femmes, "nécessite le partage de l'autorité parentale pour que, dans l'intérêt supérieur des enfants", l'ex-compagne de la mère biologique puisse, "dans le cadre juridique de la délégation-partage, continuer d'exercer le rôle éducatif qu'elle a toujours joué auprès des enfants, en outre particulièrement nécessaire à l'entrée dans l'adolescence", ajoute la cour.

Cette décision de justice, tout comme celle rendue auparavant à Rennes en 2009, a été rendue possible car les femmes, bien que séparées, étaient d'accord sur ce partage de l'autorité, souligne l'avocate Me Mécary. "Rien ne garantit qu'une autre juridiction saisie d'une demande similaire jugerait de la même façon car aujourd'hui à défaut de loi générale, la protection des enfants élevés dans un contexte homoparental est soumise au seul bon vouloir du juge, qui a une large marge d'appréciation", souligne-t-elle, en estimant qu'il "est temps que le Parlement règle cette question rapidement en permettant notamment l'adoption par le parent social de l'enfant de son/sa partenaire". 

http://lci.tf1.fr/france/justice/des-homosexuelles-separees-obtiennent-l-autorite-parentale-6991460.html

Feds: CA school district failed to help gay teen

A Central California school district did not adequately investigate or respond to complaints of bullying endured by a 13-year-old boy who later committed suicide after being harassed by classmates because he was gay, federal officials said in a letter to administrators released Friday.

Federal education and justice department officials told the Tehachapi Unified School District that school officials failed in their legal duty to protect Seth Walsh from "persistent, pervasive and often severe sex-based harassment" at Jacobsen Middle School.

Seth hung himself from a tree in his backyard two weeks after starting eighth-grade year last September and died eight days later.

The government officials launched their investigation based on a civil-rights complaint filed by Seth's mother, Wendy Walsh. They reached their conclusion after interviewing teachers, administrators and more than 75 students.

Their report provided a detailed account of a sensitive boy who, for more than two years, was teased for looking like a girl, inappropriately touched, had food and water bottles thrown at him, became the subject of false sexual rumors and eventually stopped changing into his gym clothes because he felt threatened in the locker room.

"These sexual and gender-based acts of verbal and physical aggression, intimidation, and hostility directed toward the student-particularly in light of their cruel, relentless, and inescapable nature, in conjunction with the student's young and vulnerable age-were clearly sufficient to create a hostile environment that limited the student's ability to participate in and benefit from the school's education program," the investigators wrote.

Although the school disciplined at least one student who used an anti-gay slur against Seth, the federal investigators found several instances in which complaints brought to Jacobsen's principal or vice-principal by the boy or his mother went unanswered or were handled ineffectively, even though many adults knew that Seth was picked on.

The vice-principal, for example, told Walsh "that, in a perfect word, the student would be treated equally, but that the students were at a difficult age and he could not change attitudes originating in the students' homes."

On another occasion, the principal gave Seth a yearbook to identify the boys who had been taunting him, but let the matter drop because the boy could not name any of his alleged harassers.

"When administrators should have been actively communicating to students the importance of treating the student with respect and of intervening on his behalf when others did not do so, they instead engaged in passive, incomplete action or inaction, creating for some students the perception that the harassment was acceptable," the justice and education officials said.

To settle the case, the school district has agreed to be subjected to several years of monitoring on its anti-harassment efforts and to train school staff on how to properly handle complaints even though it disputed the government's findings, according to the report.

Superintendent Richard Swanson said in an interview that he looked forward to implementing the changes outlined in the district's agreement with the Department of Education's civil rights division, such as adopting lessons to combat bullying and conducting regular surveys on school environment.

"The conclusions are devastating really," Swanson said. "Things get by us, there are things we need to do to respond and to change, and I think we have the chance to be exemplary. We can either be resistant or stick our head in the sand, or we can move forward."

James Gilliam, a lawyer with the American Civil Liberties Union who represented Walsh in the complaint, said he was ecstatic the federal officials had confirmed that the school had abandoned its responsibility to Seth.

"Every school in the country now has notice they have to protect these children," Gilliam said. "But I also know it sends a message to everybody in Tehachapi."

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2015486143_apusgayteensuicide.html

http://www.itgetsbetter.org/