Legal Hurdles for Alternative Family Relationships

Legal Hurdles for Alternative Family Relationships, a public forum sponsored by the LGBT Advisory Committee of the San Francisco Human Rights Commission and co-sponsored by Center Women Present, a Community Initiative of the San Francisco LGBT Community Center When: Thursday, October 29, 2009 at 6pm Where: The San Francisco LGBT Center 1800 Market St San Francisco, CA 94102 Some questions the forum will address include: * What kinds of alternative family relationships exist? * How prevalent are alternative families that don’t have spousal or parental relationships? * What difficulties do these families face? * What could government do to help these people care for and support each other? * Could a ‘Declaration of Familial Relationship’ convey family rights between these alternative family members? * Is there interest to create the legal standing of blood relatives among non-parental, non-spousal alternative family members? * How would these issues be received by state and local elected officials? Not all intimate relationships fit into the mold of parent, child, or spouse. Many LGBT people are estranged from their blood relatives, have no spouse, and rely on members of alternative families without the legal protections of blood relatives. Our laws that govern the rights and responsibilities of kinship such as medical decision making, inheritance, and disposition of remains are structured to provide clear direction and resolve disputes when things go wrong. However, these rights and responsibilities are often not available to alternative families without creating complex and costly contracts between the parties. Join us and learn more about what needs to be done and see how you can get involved! See you there! Center Women Present (CWP) is a queer women's initiative started at the San Francisco LGBT Community Center, serving all self-identified women, including lesbians, queer, bisexual, and transgender community members. The program intends to address women's community issues through volunteer-led projects and is shaped primarily by input of community members, with assistance of The Center's staff.