Pennsylvania

Ten U.S. high schools participated in a 90-minute special deliberation on the subject of marriage equality at the National Constitution Center. A video link connected students from schools across the country so they could discuss the topic.

Lower Moreland, Pa. high school junior Elizabeth Sklar says preparing for this event was just as much fun as participating in it:

Examiner.com reports that lesbian mom Alexis Lieberman, M.D., pediatrician since 1996, announced the opening of a private practice near the Art Museum, dubbed Fairmount Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

After two years of court battle, Lisa Lewis will get to spend time with her daughter.

In granting the Sharon, Pennsylvania woman visitation with the 7-year-old, Court Judge Christopher J. St. John ruled that Jeanette Rowan, the child’s biological mother and Ms. Lewis’ former partner of 11 years, has been a good parent but also ’controlling and manipulative’ in keeping the girl from Ms. Lewis.

The Superior Court of Pennsylvania ruled on January 21 that a lower court abused its discretion in denying a petition seeking to clarify the parental status of a Biological Father with respect to his two minor children. In 2006, a male same-sex couple (the “Intended Fathers”) filed a Petition for Assisted Conception Birth Registration seeking to have both of them recognized as the legal fathers of twins to be born to them through the use of a gestational carrier who resided in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.

Cookie magazine features a home makeover story about a family outside of Philadelphia, living in a 1683 colonial-style building. The family consists of Chris, Oscar, and their son, Lucas, who was born in June 2006 via surrogate.

The family moved into the mansion - named Point Reading - in 2003 and began it's restoration immediately.

Pennsylvania's Patriot-News is reporting on a remarkable story in Dauphin County.

An openly gay teen has been harassed in his high school to a point where he dropped-out in the middle of his senior year because he couldn't withstand the abuse. This prompted a group of classmates to petition for his return. Three hundred students signed the document.

Pennsylvania currently has no laws or upper level court decisions that directly address surrogate parenting or the enforceability of a surrogate parenting agreement.

As a matter of fact, a growing number of people, including gays and lesbians, have successfully brought children into their families through surrogacy in Pennsylvania.