Recently, I read Judith Davidoff’s story detailing Jay Timmons’ and Rick Olson’s surrogacy ordeal. I also read numerous other posts and articles about their situation circulating the internet. Like many, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of shock and empathy for this couple. Then, my disbelief turned to anger, and my anger to resolve.
Jay and Rick, a same-sex married couple attempting to gain access to rights finally recognized in Obergefell v. Hodges — the U.S. Supreme Court decision recognizing marriage equality — were searching for a state with sensible surrogacy and parentage laws. Unfortunately, they chose Wisconsin, where the laws are anything but. Jay and Rick were caught in a legal quagmire brought about by intolerance and arcane statutes.
At first, things went according to plan, as the couple secured an interim order granting legal parentage rights to their son, Jacob, in Dane County Circuit Court. That order was to be finalized upon the birth of the child. However, a new circuit court judge was appointed by Gov. Scott Walker, and politics threatened to break up their family.
Judge Jim Troupis set aside the original paternity determination. This decision was a clear calculation by Troupis: With a harsh decision in opposition to a same-sex couple in Dane County, Troupis could bolster his conservative bona fides and be an appealing candidate for appointment to an open Wisconsin Supreme Court seat. Wanting to go a step further, Troupis appointed a special advocate for the unborn child, hand picking a lawyer from Waukesha who openly opposed same-sex marriage and believed justice must involve the Bible as much as it involved state law.
While the couple’s account of the story is heart-wrenching and elicits an “I can’t believe this” response, I believe they made one innocent mistake: They falsely believed that Wisconsin’s statutes were up-to-date and offered certainty for same-sex couples seeking equal parental rights. Unfortunately for Jay and Rick, and countless others, this is not the case.
Wisconsin marriage and family law is simply ill-prepared to deal with modern families. Wisconsin often refers to spouses only as “husband and wife,” which means many same-sex couples like Jay and Rick must face expensive legal challenges, particularly when seeking parental rights. Even when the determination of parental rights is uncontested and amicable among all the parties involved, Jay and Rick’s ordeal demonstrates that a single activist judge pursuing a radical social agenda can use our out-of-date laws to cause real damage to real people.
However, preventing disasters like that brought on by Jim Troupis could easily be accomplished. This past session, I introduced a bill called the Marriage and Family Equality Act, which would update Wisconsin law to account for marriage equality. The legislation changes references to “husband and wife” to “spouse” or “spouses” and therefore includes both same-sex and different-sex married couples. The bill ensures that the intent of Obergefell, legal marriage equality, will be a reality in Wisconsin even with people like Judge Troupis on the bench.
The changes included in the bill involve simple revisions to ordinary things like fishing licenses and income tax returns. It also clarifies the law relating to insurance coverage, retirement benefits, death benefits and medical assistance.
This bill would also bring clarity to parentage and family law. If passed, these changes will recognize equality for same-sex married couples and their children by eliminating the confusion caused by explicit references only to “husbands,” “wives,” “mothers” and “fathers.”
Same-sex married couples should not have to pay a lawyer and go to court to secure basic rights. Opposite-sex couples do not have to hire lawyers, file briefs or be deposed under oath in order to ensure the state recognizes their child as their legal child when no one contests parentage.
Next session, I look forward to reintroducing the Marriage and Family Equality Act so other families don’t have to suffer the ordeal that Jay and Rick went through. Why would we make it harder for loving families to raise a child?
Mark Spreitzer is a Democratic state representative from Beloit.
