The conception and birth of a child is an adventure and a miracle for heterosexual and same-sex parents alike. However, the "adventure" to parenthood upon which same-sex parents bravely embark is more like something out of Indiana Jones than TLC's "A Baby Story." In the quest for parental kinship rights, the nongenetically related parent sometimes comes up empty-handed. Heterosexual couples are not typically faced with this unfortunate outcome even when they use in-vitro fertilization (IVF) because they sometimes have the required genetic material to move forward. On the other hand, lesbian couples require a third-party sperm donor who may or may not have parental rights superior to those of the nonbirth mother. This all depends on the laws of the state in which conception occurs, the type of donor used (known or unknown) for the conception, and the location (home or medical facility) where conception takes place.

While, at a minimum, one would think that marriage equality affords married same-sex parents all the same rights as their cis-heterosexual counterparts, a judge in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oklahoma disagrees.