Legal ruling for gay parents

FRANCE's supreme court has made a first step towards legally recognising the parental rights of gay couples.

The Cour de Cassation has ruled that a French woman whose American partner gave birth to a girl through artificial insemination in the US can be legally considered her adoptive parent.

In a legal first, the judge overturned an earlier decision by a Paris court in 2007 which refused to recognise a US ruling that the two women were both legal parents.

The couple's lawyer, Caroline Mécary, said the ruling meant that any homosexual couple who adopted or had a child overseas should have their status legally recognised in France.

Gay rights group Inter-LGBT welcomed the ruling but said there were still too many obstacles preventing gay couples adopting in France.

Galina Barskaya - Fotolia.com