NM: Lesbian custody case may trigger legislation to define “parent”

ABQJournal (subscription): “It cuts across all of that — stepparents, divorced parents, live-in relations, baby sitters, nannies,” says Rep. Al Park, an Albuquerque Democrat, who along with Sen. Mark Boitano, an Albuquerque Republican, plans to introduce a bill next legislative session to more clearly define what legally constitutes a parent. “It is a basic rule of law that the natural parents and the legal guardians have a paramount right to raise their children almost without interference. You don’t get a special right merely by being a roommate or a caregiver.”