Lesbian Mother Loses Appeal To Deny Gay Father Access To Children, 21 Year Old Man Who Employed Form Of Gay Panic As Defence Found Guilty Of Murder But Will Likely Serve Less Than Two Years Of Sentence

Three appeals judges in Britain unanimously rejected an attempt by a lesbian mother to overturn an order allowing the father of her two children joint residency, a boy now 10 years old and a girl now 7 years old. The father had placed an advertisement in Gay Times magazine in 1999 which read “Gay guy wants to be a Dad. White, handsome, solvent 30s, professional, in happy relationship, non-scene, has everything but kids. Looking for a similar female couple who want to have kids. I require little involvement; I have a lot to offer." The mother, identified in court as M, was and still is in a relationship with a woman identified only as L, while the father, identified as F, has had the same partner for 25 years. Once the children were born in 2000 and 2003 respectively, they lived primarily with their mother and her partner, but the father maintained a presence until the relationship between the three “deteriorated.” In June on this year, a court order ruled that the children must spend half the year – 152 days – with their father; however the mother appealing, arguing that the children needed to establish a permanent home and that the order “marginalized” her partner. According to the Telegraph, in delivering the ruling Wednesday, Lady Justice Black said “If the adults do not manage to resolve things by communicating with each other, the children inevitably suffer and the adults may also pay the price when the children are old enough to be aware of what has been going on. It is a great shame that that sound advice does not appear to have been heeded. It is a great privilege to be involved in bringing up a child. Childhood is over all too quickly and, whilst I appreciate that both sides think that they are motivated only by concern for the children, it is still very sad to see it being allowed to slip away whilst energy is devoted to adult wrangles and to litigation. What is particularly unfair it that the legacy of a childhood tainted in that way is likely to remain with the children into their own adult lives."

21 year old James Foley has been found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to three and half years in prison, reports the News Shopper, Foley having killed 26 year old Fathi Bouchareb in March of this year outside the G-A-Y bar in London. The court was told that Foley met Bouchareb after he left a group of straight friends at the Spearmint Rhino lap dancing club. Foley admitted to having engaged in sexual activity with Bouchareb in a nearby park, but told the jury that he had never had a homosexual act before. He argued, convincingly, that the victim had attacked him, attempting to steal his Rolex watch, and that, acting in self-defense, he strangled him with the victim’s black scarf. Mr. Foley had recently gotten engaged to his girlfriend, and after leaving Bouchareb for dead, he rejoined his friend at the club. The jury cleared him of the more serious charge of murder. Mr. Foley is likely to serve but half of the sentence, certain to be freed by 2012. In delivering the sentence, Justice Christopher Moss said “It seems to me I am bound to accept and proceed on the basis that he approached you and his motive in doing so was to steal from you. You were on your own account worse for wear in drink, however you asserted in evidence you knew what you were doing. I accept you were provoked by the deceased. The deceased on the other hand suffered injuries to his head and body which are well documented and can only have been caused by you. Your final act was to strangle Bouchareb to death with his own scarf. What you in fact did went beyond the bounds of reasonable self defence.”