In the Interest of McLean

KILGARLIN, Justice.

The Texas Equal Rights Amendment, Tex. Const, art. I, § 3a, was adopted in 1972. This case calls upon us to make an initial interpretation of the extent of its guarantees. In 1983, Laura McLean, unwed, gave birth to a child. The undisputed father of the child, Billy Dean Wise, was then, and still remains, married to another woman. McLean decided to allow the infant to be adopted and the prospective parents brought suit to terminate the parent-child relationship as to both McLean and Wise. Wise filed a cross-action for legitimation, seeking managing conserva-torship. The…