Local News in Brief : Lesbian Custody Suit Advances

A Long Beach woman’s lawsuit asking joint custody of a child born to her former lesbian lover through artificial insemination can go to trial, a judge has ruled.

The suit says that a relative of 32-year-old Terri Sabol was the sperm donor that enabled Sabol’s then-partner to conceive and on Dec. 16, 1986, give birth to the baby girl. But the couple subsequently broke up and the 29-year-old mother, who was not identified, allegedly began to limit Sabol’s time with the child and refused to allow her to help make decisions about her.

Attorney Gloria Allred filed suit on behalf of Sabol in Los Angeles Superior Court in November, 1987, seeking to establish her rights as a parent.

The mother’s attorney, Mitchell Jacobs, sought to have the suit dismissed on grounds that the court has no legal authority to consider such a claim. But on Monday, Superior Court Judge Richard E. Denner denied the motion.

“We asked the court to recognize that this was a family, although not a traditional one, and that it would be unfair to deprive our client of contact with the child,” Allred said.