Appeals Court Decision Overturns Family Court

Sorry for the delay in posting this, I actually wrote it last month right after the decision but decided to wait until my lawyer could look it over because I don't want to get in any further trouble with the court for writing about my case. The lawyer says it looks ok to him, so here it is:


I lost. My ex won his appeal. When the decision was finally released on July 6, 2007, I was so shocked that I actually thought they had made a typo--hey, I'm not the Petitioner, I'm the Respondent. I had to read it over and over again to understand.

At first, the pain and shock were so overwhelming that I didn't know how I would handle it. I just sat on the floor rocking back and forth, crying and crying. I kept saying, "I can't handle this, I can't do this, it's too much, too hard." It almost pushed me over the edge. Almost, but not quite.

I'm sure the Court would find it hard to fathom, but I do believe in a Supreme Being, albeit not an athropomorphic one, and I poured out my heart to this unknowable force, just saying, "Please, please, this can't happen. This can't end like this, I can't stand it." And gradually, gently, my tears stopped and I became filled with a certainty.

Some may say that I have deluded myself, others may say a guardian angel comforted me, or the Flying Spaghetti Monster touched me with his Noodly Appendages, but whatever it was, I began to believe that it will not end like this. Something or someone will step in and save my family. This is not how America works. This is not how it ends. We are not a nation that punishes people for their art, not really.

So once again, I appeal to all of you out there reading this right now. If you are a freak yourself, or just a person who believes in the American Way, then I am your canary. If I cannot be allowed to do these few, really small and insignificant acts of surreality, then how much longer will you be safe yourselves? What will be next, Dungeons and Dragons fans? Warcrafters? SecondLifers? If you do anything at all that Jerry Falwell wouldn't have approved of, then you could lose your children next. The time to fight is now.

The lawyers say they will keep fighting at half their normal rate of pay, but they need at least $5,000 to start an appeal to the next level, and I haven't got it. Every penny I get goes to pay off the loans I already took out just to get this far, loans secured with my parents' life savings. I hate to beg, but I really have no other choice. I must continue this fight, for my family and for all of you out there whose families will be in jeopardy if this ruling is allowed to stand.