SEPTEMBER 17, 1993

GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE 5

Judge says lesbian is 'deficient parent'

Continued from Page 1

tember 7 that Sharon Bottoms' partnership with April Wade "renders her an unfit parent." He also noted that Bottoms had said she had engaged in oral sex, a felony in Virginia. "In the opinion of this court, her conduct is immoral," he said.

Dr. Rochelle L. Klinger, a lesbian psychiatrist who works mostly with gays, had testified that Bottoms and Wade were "a healthy, well-functioning couple."

Sharon Bottoms said she and Wade have hugged and kissed in front of Tyler, but have never had sex in front of the childsomething she said would be inappropriate.

Sharon Bottoms also testified that she herself was harmed by years of sexual abuse from her mother's live-in boyfriend throughout her teen-age years. She estimated that the man had sex with her 800 times.

"It's the kind of case that strikes terror in people's hearts-makes them wonder, 'Could this happen to me?"" said Liz Hendrickson, executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights in San Francisco. She denounced the ruling as "just based on bigotry."

Upholding a Juvenile Court order awarding custody of the child to the boy's grandmother, Judge Parsons said the “extraordinary nature" of Bottoms' "deficiency as a parent" outweighed the legal presumption in favor of keeping mother and child together.

Kay Bottoms had told the judge that the child calls Wade "Da-Da"-proof, she said, that the boy, Tyler Doustou, could grow up so confused that he couldn't tell a man from a woman.

"I don't care how my daughter lives," she told the judge. "But Tyler will be mentally and physically harmed by this. We can take care of ourselves. He can't."

Donald Butler, Sharon Bottoms' lawyer,

said the judge set a dangerous precedent by taking a child away from his mother without showing that her behavior causes harm. Butler said Kay. Bottoms had "no more standing than a stranger" to sue for custody. He said Parsons' ruling will be appealed to the Virginia Court of Appeals.

Parsons was reviewing a juvenile court judge's March ruling that took the twoyear-old away from Sharon Bottoms because she is lesbian. Kay Bottoms was awarded custody and her daughter had limited visitation rights. Sharon Bottoms' exhusband, the boy's father, wasn't involved in the case.

In the March ruling, Juvenile Court Judge William G. Boice relied on a 1985 Virginia Supreme Court ruling that said a parent's homosexuality is a legitimate reason for losing custody.

Hendrickson and Butler said the judge misinterpreted the law. The earlier case dealt with a mother gaining custody of her child from her gay ex-husband, whereas the Bottoms case involved a non-parent..

"I'm personally concerned there will be some copycat cases," said Hendrickson. She chided Parsons for declaring Sharon Bottoms' lifestyle immoral. "Morality is something clergy should be talking about to their parishioners. It's not up to judges. We don't have a theocracy in this country," Hendrickson said.

"If this state's law is not the worst in the country, it's tied for first with a few others," said Stephen Pershing, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union in Virginia. The ACLU will join in the appeals process.

Since 1985, about 100 gays and lesbians have gained parental rights through the courts in what is called a co-parent, secondparent or same-gender adoption, according to the National Center for Lesbian Rights.

Adoptions granted in Texas, Massachusetts

In two separate cases in Texas and Massachusetts, courts have granted lesbian partners adoption of their spouse's children.

In a landmark court decision, a Tarrant County, Texas family law judge has permitted a Fort Worth woman to adopt her companion's biological daughter.

The two-year-old, conceived by artificial insemination, now legally has two mothers. The two Fort Worth women have shared a home for the past decade.

"This a landmark case. It's as far as we know the first one in the entire South," Austin attorney Suzanne Bryant, co-chairwoman of the National Lesbian and Gay Law Association, said of last month's ruling.

The Fort Worth couple filed the adoption petition so the girl legally can inherit from both partners and receive health insurance and Social Security benefits through either. If her biological mother dies, the girl's adoptive mother may assume responsibility without legal hassles.

The Fort Worth parents, a day-care center employee and an aerospace worker, asked

Since 1984

that their names not be disclosed because they fear negative reaction.

In Boston, a lesbian couple has won joint adoption rights to the 5-year-old child they have raised since birth.

Their attorney said it is the first ruling of its kind in Massachusetts, although a handful of other states have allowed similar adoptions.

In a 4-3 decision, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled September 10 that Dr. Susan Love and her lover of more than 10 years, Dr. Helen Cooksey, have joint parental rights. The child, Tammy, was conceived by Love through artificial insemination by Cooksey's biological cousin.

Although Love is the child's natural mother, joint adoption was required for the women to share parental rights. Love would have lost her parental rights if Cooksey had successfully petitioned to adopt the child alone.

Other states allowing such adoptions include California, Alaska, Vermont, New York, Washington, and the District of Columbia.

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