Multi-parent families or “throuples,” have been granted the same legal rights as two-parent families regarding custody of children by a Quebec Superior Court judge.
The ruling issued last Friday found that limiting the legal affiliation of multi-parental families to be unconstitutional and that the province must recognize their rights as any other family unit.
The Quebec government now has 12 months to amend the Civil Code to match the ruling, which will only apply to families that were formed before the child is born.
“Throuples” is the term given to a relationship that consists of three people who form a consensual polyamory with one another, meaning they have more than one romantic partner.
“In these times when the right to equality is savagely attacked, it feels good,” wrote lawyer Marc-André Landry after the ruling.
Landry represented the plaintiffs, which consisted of three multi-parent families.
The first is a man and two women who share four children. Another was a lesbian couple and a male sperm donor as well as a couple that involved a husband who had a baby with his wife’s friend due to her infertility issues.
Landry said the ruling does not apply to step-parents or other forms of “modern” families that are formed after a child is born, noting that it’s for those with a planned “parental project.”
“It’s not about step-parents or other potential realities, it’s really about three people sitting together and saying, ‘We should have a child together,’” said Landry. “No one should be treated differently because of their family status.”
Landry told the Daily Mail that “the families are overwhelmed with joy.”
“They are being recognized and treated equally which is important for them but also more important for their children,” he said. “I call it a landmark decision and great progress. I’d compare it to when the law changed around homosexual parenting.”
Multi-parent families already have legal standing in several in Ontario and British Columbia.
“The law has evolved, and homosexual families do exist, are accepted, and it’s not actually an issue anymore in Canada,” he said.
“It’s the same thing here. The law needs to evolve to match the reality of all Canadian citizens, and those babies who have not chosen to be born in multi-parental families. They must have the same protection, same rights as any other babies under the law.”
However, some viewed the decision as a push towards polygamy, which is illegal in Canada and that it may also present an opportunity to exploit social programs such as child benefits.
truenorthwire.com
