Hot on the heels of Gambia's president demand for all homosexuals to leave the country, Maryland's highest court sent a case back to a lower court involving a lesbian ex-partner who helped raise an adopted child. Initially, the ex-partner won visitation rights, but the adoptive mother appealed. The ex-partner, identified as Margaret K, technically has no rights to the child she helped raise.

In sending the case back to a lower court, the Maryland Court of Appeals found that de facto parenthood is not recognized in Maryland and that "exceptional" circumstances would be required to overcome a legal parent's right to the care, control and custody of a child. The Baltimore County Circuit Court now must determine whether to grant visitation rights using that higher legal standard.

Gay-rights advocates have closely watched the case, and the American Civil Liberties Union weighed in on behalf of the partner. They have argued for expanded legal rights for de facto parents, or people who take on parental roles and develop a parent-child bond with the child of a mother or father who encouraged that relationship.

The case involved a woman referred to in court papers as Janice M., who adopted a child named Maya from India during her 18-year relationship with Margaret K. After the women ended their relationship, Margaret petitioned the court for custody and won visitation rights, and Janice appealed the decision. The women's full names have been kept confidential to protect Maya's identity