NEW YORK, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- A judge ordered custody of a child to her adoptive mother, instead of her biological mother, in the first such case in New York involving a same-sex couple.
Manhattan Family Court Judge Gloria Sosa-Lintner awarded custody of the girl, about to turn 6, to real estate attorney Allison Scollar, 50, over the objection of the biological mother, television producer Brook Altman, 47, after a bitter legal fight, the New York Post reported Monday.
Scollar, the judge ruled, "is indeed the more responsible parent looking out for the child's best interests, not her own interests," while Altman "behaved more as a friend or older sister than a responsible parent. Altman is the biological parent; this does not give her automatic priority over the adoptive parent."
"It's a step closer to the gay community being acknowledged as parents," Scollar said after the decision. "The law needs to catch up to diverse families, and it has."
Marilyn Chinitz, Scollar's lawyer, called it "a great decision" that indicated "the biology of the child is irrelevant."
Scollar and Altman had lived together since 2002, had the baby with sperm donated from a then-close friend of Scollar's, and split up in 2010, the newspaper said.
