New Jersey

New Jersey-based Reproductive Possibilities is hosting a wine and cheese reception and sponsoring a Family Building Seminar about Egg Donation and Gestational Surrogacy at The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center - in New York City.

LGBT Center
208 West 13th St, (DeBenedictis Room # 410)
New York, NY 10011
Thursday, April 22, 2010
6:00 -- 8:30PM

Registration is FREE, please contact gloria@reproductivepossibilities.com

NY Times reports:

Last month, advocates and opponents of same-sex marriage packed the New Jersey State House in Trenton, supporters in blue, opponents in red. Near the end of the day, Kasey Nicholson-McFadden [pictured with his moms] took the microphone. “It doesn’t bother me to tell kids my parents are gay,” he said in a clear voice. “It does bother me to say they aren’t married. It makes me feel that our family is less than their family.”

A custody battle has pitted a gay couple against their surrogate.

From Wall Street Journal's Law Blog:

In 2006, Angelia Robinson reached an agreement with her brother, Donald, that she would carry to term twins who had been created from anonymous donor eggs and sperm from Sean Hollingsworth, Donald’s spouse.

In 2007 Robinson filed suit seeking custody of the twin girls. She claimed she had been coerced into the surrogacy arrangement.

CBS News Sunday Morning profiled a couple who were expecting the birth of their first child. Faced with fertility problems, Melissa and Michael Musman from Brooklyn, New York is working with a surrogate carrier to help them build their family.

New Jersey lawyer, and ProudParenting.com sponsor, Melissa Brisman successfully matched the couple with their surrogate carrier.

The AP reports that gay marriages performed outside New Jersey are recognized in the state for the purpose of divorce, according to a ruling Friday by a judge deciding whether a lesbian couple married in Canada can split.

State Superior Court Judge Mary Jacobson said in an oral ruling that New Jersey, which doesn't allow gays to marry, has a long history of recognizing marriages that are valid where they were performed.

We reported in August 2007 that a New Jersey couple was pursuing a civil rights complaint against a Methodist Church association that refused to allow them to use it's campgrounds for their civil union ceremony. Harriet Bernstein (left) and Luisa Paster are at the center of the lawsuit.

Mountain Meadow’s mission is to empower all youth from LGBTQ and other non-traditional families. The Summer Camp program takes place in Southern New Jersey - about an hour from Philadelphia - from August 10 to 23. The two-week residential camp for up to 80 youth (ages 9-17) plus a staff of 40 has been the primary program of Mountain Meadow since 1981.