Wren's Fight to See/Raise Daughter
Donation protected
Hello, family and friends, and hello to the members, family, and friends of the LGBT community in Texas and in our country at large.
We are Leslie Wren, Julia (Jill) Kellogg, and James (Jimmy) Wren, the sisters and brother of Christina (Tina) Wren, whom many of you know simply as Wren (the one on the right).
We are writing on behalf of our dear and brave sister, who is fighting for legal recognition of and provision for her relationship with her daughter, whom she had with her wife, in January 2014. Specifically, we are asking for contributions to pay for her legal fees for her appeal in the 9th Court of Appeals in Beaumont- a case which will likely go to the Texas Supreme Court.
Wren and her spouse, both Texas residents, were legally married in Connecticut on March 11, 2011, as same-sex marriage was not yet legal in Texas. During their marriage, they decided to start a family with donor sperm and the spouse's egg. Fertility intervention was necessary and, after several costly treatments and procedures, their daughter was conceived in 2013.
Five months into the pregnancy, Wren and her spouse faced irreconcilable issues in their marriage and separated. However, both parents remained active in supporting the pregnancy and presented themselves as parents throughout the pregnancy and beyond- at the baby shower, during the birth in January 2014, during the spouse's maternity leave, and at the baby's baptism.
Wren paid for her spouse's and the baby's expenses and supplies, visited regularly and for long durations to help care for her spouse and their daughter during maternity leave, and cared for the baby on her own on several occasions after her spouse retuned to work.
In October 2014, her spouse approached Wren about selling their house, purchased after their marriage; Wren in turn requested that they create a custody agreement regarding the care of their daughter. In response, her spouse refused to let Wren see their daughter again.
In June 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court's Obergefell v. Hodges ruling legalized Wren and her spouse's marriage in the State of Texas. The following month, Wren filed for divorce and included in her petition a suit requesting that she be appointed joint managing conservator of their daughter and awarded a standard possession order. Wren asked that her spouse be appointed the primary conservator with the right to designate the child's residence.
The spouse filed a motion to dismiss Wren's petition alleging that, under Texas Family Code (not yet updated to be gender neutral to comply with Obergefell) Wren lacked standing for conservatorship.
In October 2015, the issue of Wren's standing was tried by Judge Tracy Gilbert in the Montgomery County District Court. Ten days later Judge Gilbert ruled that Wren did not have standing and ordered her petition for conservatorship and possession dismissed. Adding insult to injury, the judge explicitly refused to apply the marital presumption of parentage because of her gender and cited her spouse's changed intentions for her relationship with Wren as the end of Wren's parent status.
This ruling was not only unjust, but also unlawful. Our sister has standing for the following reasons:
- Texas Family Code (TFC) presumes parentage of children born during a marriage to the non-birthing parent (historically, a man). Obergefell required a gender-neutral interpretation of this presumption to avoid discrimination between same-sex and opposite-sex married couples.
- TFC affords parentage to non-birthing parents who consent to assisted reproduction
- TFC affords parentage to non-birthing parents who, along with the birth parent, hold out children as their own.
Our sister's recourse now is to appeal with the 9th Court of Appeals in Beaumont. Her legal team- a powerhouse combo of appellate lawyer Allie Levy and family lawyers Laura Dale and Ashley Tomlinson- has told her to expect to take her case to the Texas Supreme Court.
Wren is still legally married to her spouse but has not seen their now-two-year-old daughter since she was approximately 9 months old. She wants nothing more than to be a parent to her and to share in raising her. The cost of her legal bills is estimated at $75,000. A ruling in her favor on this case will:
(1) legally protect Wren’s and her spouse's daughter's right to the love and support of two parents,
(2) begin to correct the cruel separation from her daughter that Wren has endured, and
(3) set legal precedent to protect same-sex couples in similar situations and heterosexual parents of children to whom they are not genetically related.
Please support all of the parties listed above and, most near and dear to us, our sister and our niece, with a contribution to Wren's legal funds. And please email/post/tweet this to anyone you know who wants to make Texas a more family-friendly state to call home.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU and, with love,
Leslie, Jill, and Jimmy
We are Leslie Wren, Julia (Jill) Kellogg, and James (Jimmy) Wren, the sisters and brother of Christina (Tina) Wren, whom many of you know simply as Wren (the one on the right).
We are writing on behalf of our dear and brave sister, who is fighting for legal recognition of and provision for her relationship with her daughter, whom she had with her wife, in January 2014. Specifically, we are asking for contributions to pay for her legal fees for her appeal in the 9th Court of Appeals in Beaumont- a case which will likely go to the Texas Supreme Court.
Wren and her spouse, both Texas residents, were legally married in Connecticut on March 11, 2011, as same-sex marriage was not yet legal in Texas. During their marriage, they decided to start a family with donor sperm and the spouse's egg. Fertility intervention was necessary and, after several costly treatments and procedures, their daughter was conceived in 2013.
Five months into the pregnancy, Wren and her spouse faced irreconcilable issues in their marriage and separated. However, both parents remained active in supporting the pregnancy and presented themselves as parents throughout the pregnancy and beyond- at the baby shower, during the birth in January 2014, during the spouse's maternity leave, and at the baby's baptism.
Wren paid for her spouse's and the baby's expenses and supplies, visited regularly and for long durations to help care for her spouse and their daughter during maternity leave, and cared for the baby on her own on several occasions after her spouse retuned to work.
In October 2014, her spouse approached Wren about selling their house, purchased after their marriage; Wren in turn requested that they create a custody agreement regarding the care of their daughter. In response, her spouse refused to let Wren see their daughter again.
In June 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court's Obergefell v. Hodges ruling legalized Wren and her spouse's marriage in the State of Texas. The following month, Wren filed for divorce and included in her petition a suit requesting that she be appointed joint managing conservator of their daughter and awarded a standard possession order. Wren asked that her spouse be appointed the primary conservator with the right to designate the child's residence.
The spouse filed a motion to dismiss Wren's petition alleging that, under Texas Family Code (not yet updated to be gender neutral to comply with Obergefell) Wren lacked standing for conservatorship.
In October 2015, the issue of Wren's standing was tried by Judge Tracy Gilbert in the Montgomery County District Court. Ten days later Judge Gilbert ruled that Wren did not have standing and ordered her petition for conservatorship and possession dismissed. Adding insult to injury, the judge explicitly refused to apply the marital presumption of parentage because of her gender and cited her spouse's changed intentions for her relationship with Wren as the end of Wren's parent status.
This ruling was not only unjust, but also unlawful. Our sister has standing for the following reasons:
- Texas Family Code (TFC) presumes parentage of children born during a marriage to the non-birthing parent (historically, a man). Obergefell required a gender-neutral interpretation of this presumption to avoid discrimination between same-sex and opposite-sex married couples.
- TFC affords parentage to non-birthing parents who consent to assisted reproduction
- TFC affords parentage to non-birthing parents who, along with the birth parent, hold out children as their own.
Our sister's recourse now is to appeal with the 9th Court of Appeals in Beaumont. Her legal team- a powerhouse combo of appellate lawyer Allie Levy and family lawyers Laura Dale and Ashley Tomlinson- has told her to expect to take her case to the Texas Supreme Court.
Wren is still legally married to her spouse but has not seen their now-two-year-old daughter since she was approximately 9 months old. She wants nothing more than to be a parent to her and to share in raising her. The cost of her legal bills is estimated at $75,000. A ruling in her favor on this case will:
(1) legally protect Wren’s and her spouse's daughter's right to the love and support of two parents,
(2) begin to correct the cruel separation from her daughter that Wren has endured, and
(3) set legal precedent to protect same-sex couples in similar situations and heterosexual parents of children to whom they are not genetically related.
Please support all of the parties listed above and, most near and dear to us, our sister and our niece, with a contribution to Wren's legal funds. And please email/post/tweet this to anyone you know who wants to make Texas a more family-friendly state to call home.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU and, with love,
Leslie, Jill, and Jimmy
Organizer
Leslie Wren
Organizer
Spring, TX
