They had me when I saw this ...

Partner/Spouse!  We even get top billing. 

@JoeHoeffel

I promise I will post about the Mayor's LGBT Advisory Council meeting.  I can't promise to be particularly witty.  I've been debriefed by no less than five people about this meeting, including someone from the Mayor's team, so I'm already a little over it. 

However, I spent more than 12 months pushing for this Council to take shape and do something so I promise to stick with it for the long haul. 

I did live tweet the event.  You can read all about it here http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23LukeLGBTcmt

That's all I've got for right now. 

Some good news from the PA Supreme  Superior Court ...

In an opinion that at once awarded homosexual parents equal custody rights and criticized a Dauphin County Common Pleas judge for potential gender bias, the state Superior Court overturned a 25-year-old precedent.

The previous precedent, the court wrote in a 7-1 opinion, set a presumption "based upon unsupported preconceptions and prejudices -- including that the sexual orientation of a parent will have an adverse effect on the child."

"Such preconceptions and prejudices have no proper place in child custody cases, where the decision should be based exclusively upon a determination of the best interests of the child."

The PG does a thorough job with this story, explaining how the concept of custody rulings continues to evolve around the best interests of the child.  The idea that one type of parent is automatically a better custodial parent because of their identity (mother, white, married, etc) is set aside. 

I also like that the higher court slapped down the lower court judge for clear gender bias in his ruling.