Isabella And Lisa Miller Update: What’s The Right Question To Ask?
The sad custody battle over a seven year-old girl took another turn on New Year’s Day, when Lisa Miller, the biological mother of Isabella Miller, failed to turn the child over to Lisa’s former lesbian lover despite a court order to do so.
The details are probably familiar to you. Lisa Miller and Janet Jenkins joined in a civil union in Vermont. They moved to Virginia where Lisa was artificially inseminated and gave birth to Isabella. Shortly after that, Lisa left the homosexual lifestyle and became a Christian. She has battled Ms. Jenkins over custody ever since. Jenkins bases her right as a “parent” on Vermont’s civil union law, but Virginia law and constitution do not recognize the civil union.
Regardless, courts in Vermont and Virginia repeatedly have sided with Jenkins, recently culminating with a Vermont judge’s order for Ms. Jenkins to receive full custody of Isabella, which was scheduled to happen January 1.
The circumstances of this case are as heart wrenching as they are frustrating. It is our belief that the courts have failed to apply the law correctly, relying on Vermont’s civil union statute over Virginia’s constitution and the federal Defense of Marriage Act that is supposed to protect Virginia’s marriage laws. Instead, judges at nearly every turn have ignored our law in favor of Vermont’s.
As I was interviewed about this story by CNN on Friday, and then saw its report, it became clear that the ruse that civil unions are not considered marriage is over. Throughout the story, which you can view here, CNN refers to the union as “marriage,” at one point saying Lisa and Janet were “married in a civil union,” and continuing to refer to Janet as a “parent” despite having no biological or legal ties to the child. One thing is for certain, the homosexual lobby’s attempts to portray civil unions as something less than marriage have been destroyed by their own words.
It’s interesting to note that I was asked over and over again by CNN about Lisa’s decision to “violate the court order,” but I was never once asked about the judges in this case who over and over again violated Virginia law. Instead of asking about Lisa’s actions, we should ask how judges simply can ignore the parts of the law and constitution they don’t like in favor of other parts.
Finally, we need to continue to pray for Lisa, Janet — and perhaps most importantly Isabella — in this entire mess. It’s difficult to predict the effect this situation will have on Isabella’s future, but it’s hard to believe that it will be positive.
I don’t understand why various conservative groups and websites so readily misreport this issue. Lisa Miller defied multiple court orders to permit the woman she used to be married to and who helped birth their daughter visitation rights. The judge in Vermont warned her she would lose custody if she persisted in defying his visitation orders, which she did. He held to his word, and switched custody to the other parent. It’s not about “activist judges,” it’s about obeying the law. Even Christians have to follow out country’s laws!
I wouldn’t dispute what you say. She might not have agreed with the decision, but at least she had primary custody. She should’ve cont’d to work the legal system. But I think this post is about the media interview. Sounds like the interviewer had a one track mind. Seems as if Va. has a constitutional law and federal law says other states must respect those laws pertaining the marriage, the courts got it wrong. Your use of the word “marriage” seems to substantiate the post . . . we’re told “civil unions” are not marriage, yet they are treated that way.
I believe some of your assertions are incorrect. I believe Lisa Miller and Janet Jenkins moved to Vermont in order to form a legally-binding civil union. I also understand that only Lisa Miller returned to Virginia with the child after the relationship ended, primarily to prevent Janet Jenkins from exercising her court-ordered visitation rights.
You also failed to report that Lisa Miller:
* was one-half of a ‘traditional’ (with one man) marriage and divorce prior to her relationship with Janet Jenkins;
* is an admitted alcoholic;
* claims to have changed sexual orientation twice in less than five years;
* illegally attempted to ‘forum-shop’ between state courts in an attempt to circumvent the visitation order [(28 U.S.C.A. § 1738A - Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act) and Virginia's Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (Va. Code Ann. § 20-146.1 et seq)]; and
* during all that, still had the gall to file for child-support payments for the child from Janet Jenkins.
And now, she has apparently kidnapped the child again and disappeared, in defiance of yet another court order.
Now, seriously… is Lisa Miller really qualified to set a good example as a parent?
I think not.
So, did you fail to do due diligence while writing this article, or did you intentionally mislead your readers by omitting information that might cast your ‘heroine’ in a less-than-saintly light?
This case, and this post only goes to prove what I’ve always said: Extremist Christians hate the law, the Constitution, and the entire founding ideals of the United States. We are a nation of laws, and Ms. Miller is in violation of a legal order under that law. Had it been Ms. Jenkins who defied a court order and fled with the child, I’m certain you’d be demanding that the full resources of American law enforcement be put on the case.
But no, since the law upholds the rights of a person who happens to be gay, you are just fine with ignoring the entire basis for our country.
By the way, Janet Jenkins is now technically a kidnapper. Do you support kidnapping?
While I agree with the thrust of the article here, there is a MAJOR factual error.
You say, “Lisa Miller and Janet Jenkins joined in a civil union in Vermont. They moved to Virginia where Lisa was artificially inseminated and gave birth to Isabella. Shortly after that, Lisa left the homosexual lifestyle and became a Christian.”
This is not true. Lisa and Janet lived in Virginia and made a short visit to Vermont to get the civil union. So it is inaccurate to say “they moved to Virginia…” when they were already Virginia residents. They didn’t move to Vermont until AFTER Isabella was born.
Here are two clips from a big WaPo article from 2007 (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/30/AR2007013001316.html?sid=ST2010010101465):
On December 19 of that year, Lisa and Janet took a brief vacation to Stowe, Vt., to enter into a civil union there, even though their home state of Virginia would not recognize it.
That August, when Isabella was 4 months old, the Miller-Jenkinses moved to Vermont. They wanted to live in a state that recognized their commitment to each other and offered them legal protections as a family, Janet said.
Jeffrey said, “Lisa Miller defied multiple court orders to permit the woman she used to be married to and who helped birth their daughter visitation rights.”
A civil union is NOT a marriage, therefore Lisa and Janet were not married.
(from Wikipedia: Massachusetts became the sixth jurisdiction in the world (after the Netherlands, Belgium, Ontario, British Columbia, and Quebec) to legalize same-sex marriage. It was the first U.S. state to issue same-sex marriage licenses.[1] )
Asudo Nimh said, “I also understand that only Lisa Miller returned to Virginia with the child after the relationship ended, primarily to prevent Janet Jenkins from exercising her court-ordered visitation rights.”
You might want to read the WaPo article from 2007 (link is in my other post here) that presented a lot of the story before it became a cause celebre. You’ll see that Lisa did NOT return to Virginia to prevent any “court-ordered visitation.” In fact, the two never went to court until AFTER Lisa filed to dissolve the civil union, at which time she was living in Virginia so there couldn’t have been any “court-ordered visitiation” when Lisa was in Vermont.
Most people would recognize that it is possible to have a law that is so unjust that it would be morally required to disobey that law.
The question is, where do we draw the line?
I don’t know what I would do in Lisa Miller’s situation, but without a doubt the courts and legislatures in this case have violated God so badly that I understand her refusal to turn over her daughter.
She has a God given right (and more importantly – responsibility) to protect her daughter from harm. No court or legislature has the right to violate God’s law. The Bible commands us to obey the laws of civil government, but it (as well as History) is also filled with examples where believers were compelled to refuse compliance. (Daniel in the lions den; Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and the fiery furnace; Peter and John and the Jewish Authorities; Christians refusing to worship Caesar or serve in the Roman Army; Protestants refusing to acknowledge the pope; Americans declaring independence from Britain; Rosa Parks refusing to sit in the back of the bus; etc.)
Our current liberties (or what remains of them) are derived from the idea that even the king (government) is subject to the laws and order of God and does not have the authority to command someone to break those laws or that order.
If the civil government is not also under the law, our freedoms will quickly be lost.
The people, legislatures, and courts of these two states (Vermont and Virginia) need to return to acknowledging that we can not destroy what God has appointed – Marriage is a life long union between a man and a woman.
WHO CARES what the VERMONT COURT SAYS . . it is INTRUSIVE, LIBERAL AND SICK to subject a child to homosexuality . . .I support Lisa . .go baby go run baby run .. get away from the EVIL IMMORAL Courts . .defy them they are not doing what is right . . I would NOT want my daughter subjected to some lesbian GOD knows what she may be telling her . . . Lisa is 100 % CORRECT ! These “family” courts are a oxyMORON . . they are nothing but Orwellian INTRUSIVENESS and meddling . . Lisa saw the light and realized how sick and immoral her past has been and stay away and hide until the child is grown . .then they can do what they want . .you PREVENTED her from being corrupted and you did the CORRECT thing . . hey you legalistic fools out there . .get it straight all too often the CORRECT, PROPER and MORAL thing is not necessarily the LEGAL thing to do . .GOD SPEED LISA don’t let the evil doers get to you or that child . . .live underground if necessary . . GOD SPEED !
I so agree with silence dogood! why doesn’t Janet have her own kid, if she loves kids so much? because she’d rather stalk this one. Tell me about it. Move on, Janet, Lisa doesn’t want you, Isabella is a believer in Christ Jesus for life…she’ll never be your little plaything, your little baby lesbian, anyway, to show off to your homosexual friends…she’s not your biological child…you are abusive, stalking people who no longer want you around…using the system and double-talk, and judges who deny half the constitution to pander to your abuse…quit stalking them! I’m going to pray that the God of Heaven and Earth puts every stumbling block in your way, and prevents you from doing anything against this innocent little girl. Or did you take care of that already? you sure are after her for something…I’ve never known a molester who wasn’t a homosexual, first. What’s your real interest in Isabella…her Christianity? yeah, I bet. more like you could turn her into a little woman you could control for life…a little victim.
Repent, Janet, repent and be saved. The gift of God, Holy God, is eternal life, through Jesus Christ the Lord. He’s my Lord, and He’s delivered me from bi-sexual husbands who abused me unspeakably. what’s your deal???