Lesbian Mothers Win

Sallie Hall, a lesbian mother in the small cen"tral Ohio city of Newark, recently won custody of her six year old daughter Martha Ann in Ohio's landmark decision regarding the fitness of homosexual parents.

David Hall requested a change of custody to himself solely on the grounds that Sallie is a lesbian and lives with Shirley den Broeder, who is also a lesbian. Thus, he alleged, she is unfit to raise the child.

"David Hall bears the burden of proof in this proceeding. However, he has proved nothing beyond the bald fact of Sallie Hall's sexual preference and her maintenance of a joint household with another woman. He has proved nothing about the effect of a woman's sexual preference on her ability to raise a child. He brought in no experts to testify that sexual preference impairs child raising capacity, stated attorneys for Sallie Hall in the memorandum of law following the April hearing.

Sallie was represented by Donald B. Ruben, a prominent liberal trial lawyer of Columbus, who is well-known for his child custody cases; John Quigley of the Ohio State University Law faculty; and Marilyn G. Haft of the New York ACLU Sexual Privacy Project.

"We didn't know Marilyn Haft would be here until two days before the hearing. We had contacted ACLU, but had heard nothing. They wanted to keep it quiet so the prosecution couldn't be prepared to fight the ACLU," said Sallie. "Marilyn even received letters asking her why she wasn't helping "this woman in Ohio."

Witnesses for the prosecution consisted only of David Hall's family. In essence, all he did was to come into court and shout "lesbian." His own witnesses admitted on cross-examina-

where the child resides does not render the home an unfit place for the child. There two women resided together in a lesbian relationship, and each had children residing in the household. The trial court had found both mothers unfit by reason of their maintenance of the joint household wherein their children also resided. The Court of Appeals reversed stating: "There was sufficient evidence to support the conclusion that the women were engaged in a lesbian relationship. However, there is very little to support the conclusion that this relationship rendered the home an unfit place for children to reside." As in the Hall case, the moving party had proveo nothing more than the mere fact of a lesbian relationship in the household where the child resided. The court found that showing insufficient.

Sallie feels that the biggest problem most lesbian mothers experience is the fear that someone. will come along and take their children away.

"I hope that cases like mine will make it so that somebody can't take you to court just for being gay."

"I would venture to say that within two years men won't be able to sue for custody on the basis of lesbianism," remarked Shirley. "I want women to know that they can fight and win. Nobody has yet been able to take a case to court and prove that lesbianism is detrimental to the child,"

Sallie continued, "Why live under the fear all your life? If you have to face it, face it. If every woman that this kind of thing happened to would go to court, change would occur much faster."

Shirley added, "The precedents being set will make it much less expensive to take to court."

tion that but for her sexual preference they consider Sallie a good parent.

Chief witness for the defense was Dr. Richard Green, a psychiatrist from UCLA who testified as an expert on lesbianism. Dr. Green has written three books on sexuality, numerous articles, and is editor-in-chief of a leading professional journal.

Dr. Green testified that although lesbianism is a minority sexual preference it reflects no psychological maladjustment or abnormality. He also indicated that this opinion is supported by the American Psychiatric Association.

He further testified that Sallie Hall's private personal sexual preference has had and will have no adverse effect on Martha Ann. He

stated that nearly all homosexuals are the product of heterosexual households, citing the obvious fact that most parents are heterosexual.

Dr. Green stated that the only impact on Martha Ann of growing up with a mother who is a lesbian will be that she will be more tolerant of lesbianism than most children.

-Dr. William Todd, a Columbus psychiatrist with twenty-five years of clinical experience, testified that Sallie is mentally healthy and psychologically fit to raise Martha Ann.

The defense maintained that the best interests of Martha Ann definitely require that she remain in the custody of her natural mother. A number of factors were noted in that regard. Among them were: the natural right of the mother to custody of a child of tender years; Martha Ann prefers to live with her mother; Martha Ann is presently in the custody of Sallie Hall and is developing well in her present environment; the court investigator found nothing wrong with Sallie's household or with her as a mother; Sallie's household with Shirley provides a good environment for Martha Ann; and David Hall is in arrears on child support payments for Martha Ann.

That David Hall was unable to prove beyond a doubt that being a lesbian hindered Sallie in her child rearing indicates that one's sexual orientation does not affect one's ability to raise a child.

A recent Michigan case flatly states that mainterance of a lesbian relationship in the home

FEMINIST FORUM

A USO for Women (minus Bob Hope)

Meeting places for social activity are rare in Cleveland, but one place where women have a chance to meet is the Feminist Forum. Located at 12940 Cedar (932-2074), the duplex home is rented by four feminists who organized the Forum as a contact for women who need services but don't know who to call. Until a women's center is in operation, they refer calls to Preterm, Cleveland Women's Counseling, and other information centers. Forum meetings happen between 9 p.m. and 12 p.m. Fridays, and involve card games, casual conversations, and serious group discussions on topics like Women and Violence, Motherhood, Child Care, Health, and the Law.

The Forum also tries to get women together who want to meet other women with their interests, such as older women and high school students. All Cleveland women are welcome. There are an average of 10 to 15 women who come regularly, but stragglers occasionally drop in to check out this new idea.

Topics of discussion are determined by the mood of the evening and not by a preplanned format. What She Wants has found the Feminist Forum to be a valuable asset to the Cleveland Women's Community.

page 1/What She Wants/December, 1974