Une Famille Female

A French court has granted recognition as a family to a lesbian couple and their three daughters. One of the couple is the biological mother of their three daughters (conceived through artificial insemination); the other had legally adopted the children, and finally they won the court decision that recognizes them as a family, granting them rights of same. While this doesn't necessarily change the status of any other similar households, it does give them some hope of success if this is what they seek.

The rights the women were seeking through this decision are similar to the things that have motivated American gay couples to seek marriage (inheritance, property rights, medical decision-making, etc.). Same concerns, different angle of approach. The presence of children in the relationship presumably added to the couple's urgency about the issues, and the best interests of the kids swayed the court.

A small step, but a good one.

I've only read this in the French papers thus far; probably I'll run across it in English and add a link for those who don't read French. (Meantime, you could always use Babelfish to translate it.)