The Supreme Court in Virginia heard arguments from both sides of a custody battle between two women who shared a civil union in Vermont.

Current Virginia resident Lisa Miller wants the Supreme Court to overturn a decision that affirmed a Vermont court’s ruling that her former partner, Janet Jenkins, will have parental rights to her non-biological child. Miller, who has since renounced her homosexuality, and Jenkins separated in 2003 after Miller gave birth to now six-year-old Isabella.

The Virginian-Pilot reports:

Miller subsequently filed paperwork in a Vermont court to dissolve her civil union with Jenkins. Vermont courts have granted parental rights to Jenkins because she and Miller jointly raised the child while living in that state.

Attorneys for Miller say that Virginia law, which does not recognize civil unions, should take precedence in the case because both mother and child live here. They want the courts to cancel Jenkins’ visitation rights.

“This so-called parental right in Vermont is based solely upon the Vermont civil union, which is not recognized in Virginia,” said Mat Staver, chairman of Liberty Counsel, a group that specializes in conservative civil liberty issues.

Staver, who is also dean of the law school at Lynchburg’s Liberty University, is one of Miller’s lawyers.

While Virginia does not recognize civil unions – the legislature passed the Affirmation of Marriage Act in 2004 and voters two years later approved a constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman – attorneys for Jenkins say that a federal statute trumps those laws.

“It’s clear the Vermont court has jurisdiction, and it’s up to the Vermont court to decide who should have custody and what the visitation arrangement should be,” said ACLU of Virginia legal director Rebecca Glenberg, one of the lawyers representing Jenkins.