The emails began trickling into Carol Jones’ inbox around 4:30 a.m. Nov. 6, shortly after the presidential election was called for Donald Trump.
Later that day, the Chicago-based LGBTQ-focused family lawyer said she was inundated with calls and emails from people with questions about what same-sex parents could do to maintain their parental rights.
In most cases, both parents’ names appear on their child’s birth certificate. But they fear the document wouldn’t be enough to prove their parental rights in less gay-friendly states. They were reaching out for additional legal protections to help them in a country they see as increasingly hostile to the LGBTQ+ community.
“There’s an amount of legitimate fear that our families will be targets of this administration starting in January,” said Jones, who has a wife and three children. “I’ve never seen this level of panic.”
Many Democrats lament Kamala Harris’ loss to Trump. But the prospect of a second Trump administration is downright frightening for some same-sex parents.
Five lawyers specializing in LGBTQ clients told the Sun-Times they’ve seen a rise in calls from clients concerned about defending their rights. Besides asking about maintaining their rights as parents — especially among the non-birthing mother in a same-sex couple — the lawyers say they’re also getting more calls from people seeking to get married to their same-sex partner before Trump returns to office. The lawyers have also been getting more calls seeking help with estate planning and wills.
Jones’ clients are more scared compared to eight years ago when Trump first took office, she said. Some people lost faith in the courts when the conservative Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, rolling back abortion rights. The LGBTQ community also worries the court could reverse its 2015 decision Obergefell v. Hodges that outlawed state gay marriage bans.
Nothing has changed yet in the law, but many in the LGBTQ community fear the attacks on their rights could be worse in Trump’s second term. Conservatives now have majorities in the U.S. Supreme Court and both houses of Congress.
“The possibilities are huge to undo the progress that has been made for” the LGBTQ+ community, Jones said.
If the Supreme Court does reverse its protection of gay marriage, each state would again decide for itself whether to allow gay couples to marry. Same-sex marriage would remain legal in Illinois, where it became protected by law in 2013, but there are more than two dozen states with gay marriage bans on the books that would take effect again after a Supreme Court reversal.
Adopting your own child, establishing second-parent rights
Tia and Kris Lantzy, of Uptown, were one of the couples who reached out to Jones, asking what they could do to protect their legal rights as parents of their 3-year-old son, Archie. Tia Lantzy, 39, did not carry their child, and though her name is on the birth certificate, she was told it may not be enough to ensure her legal title of “parent” outside of Illinois.
A birth certificate is an important document for the child, but it is not a legal document that protects a parent’s right to parenthood, according to Julie Tavoso, a Hinsdale-based attorney of reproductive law.
Birth certificates offer same-sex couples the presumption of parentage. But that presumption can be legally challenged, potentially in states that may return to banning gay marriage if Obergefell v. Hodges were reversed.
The solution is for parents to seek a court order, either in the form of a second-parent adoption, also known as related adoption or confirmatory adoption, or a parentage order. Those court orders, unlike birth certificates, have legal power across state lines.
“That’s the only guarantee a parent will be recognized in both [persons] outside of Illinois,” Tavoso said.
Both types of court orders work equally well, according to Nidhi Desai, a Chicago lawyer specializing in assisted reproductive technology and adoption. But most parents are pursuing the adoption order because it has been around longer and has been enforced by a 2016 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, she said. Parentage orders have been available in the state since the Illinois Parentage Act of 2015.
Obtaining either court order is important for same-sex parents going out of state, either while traveling or moving. It’s also critical in emergency situations, such as an out-of-state car accident when someone’s next-of-kin status can be challenged at the hospital, Desai said.
The Lantzys settled on requesting a judgment of parentage. They said the order provides assurance in the face of an uncertain political and legal climate.
“I thought that this Trump period was behind us,” Kris Lantzy, 39, said. “It’s very jarring to now be back facing another Trump administration with a young child.”
Preparing for immigration changes and applying for citizenship
Michael Jarecki, a Chicago-based immigration attorney representing LGBTQ+ couples, said he’s had an increase in calls from same-sex married couples seeking to speed up their path to citizenship. The couples have one U.S. citizen sponsoring their foreign national spouse.
They fear the road to citizenship could become more difficult if marriages like theirs stop getting recognized at a federal level, he said. And those in nonlegal partnerships like civil unions are choosing to get married legally so they can start the immigration process.
“The urgency … has only increased since the election results showed Trump is now president-elect,” Jarecki said.
Others who had previously received a green card through their marriage but moved abroad are returning to the U.S. to reestablish permanent residency, he said. The couples fear the Trump administration will again implement a public charge rule allowing immigration officers to deny visas, admission or adjustment of status to foreign nationals.
Same-sex “couples are extremely concerned about how they’ll be perceived and treated in front of the immigration service, so they want to gain more legal status as quickly as possible,” Jarecki said.
Jarecki is telling clients, if they qualify and are not a high-risk case, to begin the immigration process because application time frames are the shortest he’s seen in years.
Building families, estate planning and what to consider if you move out of Illinois
The lawyers are even getting questions about storing frozen embryos and sperm. Conservative court rulings could make it harder for couples thinking about having children to move frozen eggs to other states, Desai said. Earlier this year, Alabama’s Supreme Court ruled that embryos are considered “unborn children” and anyone harming them could be held liable for civil penalties.
They’re also advising same-sex couples to develop estate plans and execute wills or trusts. That includes assigning power of attorney to a spouse, so they can be identified as the person to make decisions no matter what state they live in, Jones said.
“I’m not afraid of someone losing their marriage equality in Illinois,” Jones said. “But if you were to move to a state that doesn’t recognize you as married, having an estate plan in place becomes more important because it supercedes what will happen by default in states.”
Legal concerns like writing a will were not on the minds of Tia and Kris Lantzy when they started dating during the first Trump administration. Now they feel they have more to lose.
“The stakes are a lot higher now that we’re married and have a son that depends on us,” Kris Lantzy said.
Tia Lantzy mused that Chicago and the LGBTQ-friendly community they live in is “a bubble.”
“Now I don’t feel safe traveling outside of Chicago,” she said. “It’s just really scary. I don’t know what to expect.”