Lisa Miller -- Ex-Gay, Born Again, Outlaw, Kidnapper On the Run

Five years ago, Lisa Miller packed her bags and left her home in Vermont for the greener, less gay-friendly pastures of Virginia. She left behind her partner of six years, Janet Jenkins. She left behind their civil union. She left behind homosexuality. The only thing she didn't leave behind was their then 17 month-old daughter Isabella.

Lisa's move to Virginia was highly calculated, a backward display of political asylum: she picked a state in which she could hide behind the anti-gay policies and hope not to be found by the inclusive homo-friendly laws of her past. Pretty sneaky, sis.

But Lisa's still-homosexual ex sued for visitation rights in Vermont court, the state in which the two had lived, raised their daughter and entered into a civil union. She was granted the visitation rights familiar to any kid of divorce. Lisa counter-sued in Virginia court, where she was granted sole custody because the Judge applied Virginia law, which rendered Janet nothing more than a clingy friend, naming Lisa as Isabella's only known parental figure. But that's where Lisa's victories ended -- her custody award was overturned in Virginia appellate courts (a decision upheld in the state's Supreme Court) and the U.S. Supreme Court has twice denied her pleas to be heard (she currently has a third appeal awaiting decision). Seems like everyone involved agrees that the Vermont custody ruling is good law, and that Virginia should stay out of it. Everyone except Lisa.

Despite the numerous legal decrees granting Janet visitation rights, Lisa has cut Janet out of the family equation, claiming that acquiescing to the custody directive would be like "handing my daughter over to the milkman."

Lisa isn't just ignoring the Vermont orders because she doesn't like them, she's ignoring them because she has her own set of rules: God's law. She felt that "God, through His word and through the ways that He shows Himself, that he wanted me to stop visitation" and so she did. This is no longer a battle between bitter exes, this has become a war of religious ideology.

Unfortunately for those on Team Lisa (namely evangelicals), directives from God don't carry much weight in a court of law. With each consecutive missed court appearance, each canceled visit with Janet, each statement in the press of defiance and religious piety, Lisa, and Lisa alone, built the case against herself. Rule number one folks, don't piss off a judge. It never ends well.

So last November a judge granted sole custody of the girl to Janet, citing Lisa's repeated disrespect for the court as representative of her disregard for the best interest of the child. When Lisa failed to show up for a January 1 court appearance, an arrest warrant was issued. No one has seen or heard from Lisa, or Isabella, since.

This battle isn't over. And the messier it gets, the clearer it becomes that we need uniform laws regarding adoption and custody. Lisa is the newest darling for the traditional family army, while Janet stands in for gay parents everywhere, simply fighting for the right to love their kids. And Isabella is pushed and pulled, unnecessarily, between the two camps.

Stay tuned.

Photo: cuffs4