Nearly a decade ago, Lisa Miller, then of Vermont, renounced “the homosexual lifestyle,” kidnapped the daughter she’d given birth to with her partner in a civil union, fled the state and eventually the country to avoid sharing visitation rights with her ex in Vermont, as the courts had ordered. Recently, Miller showed up in Miami, turned herself in and is awaiting trial.
Her daughter, Isabella, now 18—who her other mom, Janet Jenkins, never stopped fighting for—is still missing.
Reports LGBTQ Nation:
Lisa Miller, who kidnapped the daughter she had with her ex, Janet Jenkins, in 2010 to go live in a religious community in Central America, is behind bars in Miami after she turned herself in. The daughter, Isabella, is now 18-years-old and is believed to be in Nicaragua.
“I just want Isabella to know that I love her very much and that I have never stopped loving her,” Jenkins said in a statement this week. “Isabella has a family and support system here who will always welcome her home with open arms.”
In 2000, Jenkins and Miller got a civil union in their home state of Vermont when they first became available. Two years later, Miller gave birth to Isabella with the help of artificial insemination.
The next year, the couple separated and Miller accused Jenkins of sexually abusing their child. Miller also said that she was no longer a lesbian and that she had become a fundamentalist Christian. She tried to deny visitation to Jenkins, arguing that she’s the biological mother and that their civil union gave no parental rights to Jenkins. Jenkins was still awarded visitation by a Vermont court.
So Miller grabbed the kid and moved to Virginia, which didn’t recognize same-sex relationships at the time. Jenkins argued her case to the state’s supreme court, saying that the federal Parental Kidnapping Prevention Act requires Virginia to recognize her parenthood because Vermont did. The court agreed with her in a landmark decision and she was able to get visitation rights.
For years, Miller refused to comply with the visitation order. In 2009, the court in Vermont had had enough of Miller’s refusal to grant visitation and turned custody of Isabella over to Jenkins.
But Miller wouldn’t comply and she – with the help of some local Christians – grabbed her kid and drove to Canada. From there, they flew to Nicaragua to live in a Mennonite community. Miller was indicted in a federal court in 2014 and, in the time since she fled the country, three anti-gay activist conspirators have been convicted on charges related to helping her with the kidnapping.
After years of evading the law, Miller turned herself in at the U.S. Embassy in Managua. She is being held in custody in Florida and will face trial on charges of conspiracy and kidnapping in a federal court in New York, because that’s where she allegedly crossed the border into Canada.
Not a subscriber? Sign up today for a free subscription to Boston Spirit magazine, New England’s premier LGBT magazine. We will send you a copy of Boston Spirit 6 times per year and we never sell/rent our subscriber information. Click HERE to sign up!
