Oh, Shenandoah

From one of the prettiest (and most conservative) parts of the country, Staunton, Virginia, the editorial board of the News-Leader decries the lack of perspective in the Miller/Miller-Jenkins custody case. As the editorial puts it, "The preeminent concern in this case ––– the good of the child –– is lost in a fog of politico-legal mumbo-jumbo."

There do seem to be big issues here – states rights, full faith and credit, recognition of another state's civil unions by a DoMA state, blah, blah, blather. Yet, the guys down in the Blue Ridge peg it with:

We're ashamed it isn't being heard in some modest little Domestic & Juvenile Relations courtroom –— where it belongs.

Whatever happened to what's best for the child? Let's not lose ourselves in legal navel-gazing about lifestyles and other social frou-frou.

This isn't about girl-girl, boy-boy or girl-boy. It's about two people who have lived together in a relationship and somehow gotten themselves with child. We don't care about the mechanics or if they adopted it or found it on the doorstep.

Hear. Hear.

The young Isabella may come one day to feel some pride that her moms fought over her, but not likely. More probably, she will wonder, as so many children from dissolved relationships do, "Why couldn't they be reasonable and nice?"