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Parental Rights

Court: No Rule That "a Transgender Parent Should Not Be Awarded Tiebreaking Authority over a Cisgender Parent on Matters of Gender Identity and Expression"

Eugene Volokh | 4.30.2026 1:46 PM

An excerpt from Turner v. Abelle-Kiser, decided Tuesday by the Maryland Appellate Court (Judge Douglas Nazarian, joined by Chief Judge Gregory Wells and Judge Glenn Harrell):

This appeal arises from a custody dispute between appellant AshLee Smith Turner ("AST") and appellee Blair Abelle-Kiser ("BAK") over custody of their minor child, Z…. [AST] challenges the court's legal custody decision, and especially the decision to grant tiebreaking authority to BAK ….

The parties are parents to Z, a minor child. They married before they had Z and were granted a judgment of absolute divorce in June 2022. AST is cisgender, and BAK is transgender…. [In its child custody decision, the trial] court awarded joint physical custody … and, most relevant to this appeal, joint legal custody with conditional tiebreaking authority vested in BAK….

The court upheld the legal custody decision, and in the process said the following:

AST argues that … because Z has begun exploring their gender identity, because BAK is trans, and because BAK has been supportive in that exploration,........

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