Our very own Lake Worth resident Lisa Maxwell made history

Jane Musgrave at the Palm Beach Post has a must read article about our Lake Worth residents Lisa Maxwell and Christine Stephens-Maxwell. Lisa and Christine are officially parents! Last year I was honored to attend the baby shower for Lisa and Christine's child. The Post article today has a large, above-the-fold photo of them and their baby in the local section. From the article:

By most definitions, Lisa Maxwell and Christine Stephens-Maxwell are married.

They have a bonafide license from the state of New York and albums bursting with photos of their 2012 nuptials in Central Park. They own a house together in the College Park section of Lake Worth. They love each other deeply.

But when Stephens-Maxwell gave birth to their daughter, Satori, last month at Good Samaritan Medical Center, hospital officials refused to put Maxwell’s name on her birth certificate.

“They said they were following the law,” Maxwell said.

All that changed this week.

In a decision that several legal experts agreed could have reverberations throughout the state, Palm Beach County Circuit Judge Lisa Small replaced “husband” with “spouse” in two Florida laws. The simple — but, some say, ground-breaking — action allows Maxwell to get legal recognition as the parent of the child she and her spouse brought into the world through in vitro fertilization.