8 GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE OCTOBER 1, 1993

Mother seeks to regain custody from gay couple

Seattle-A 4-year-old boy has been placed with gay foster parents whose hopes of adopting the child prompted a belated effort on the part of his mother to regain custody.

"It's a foster-care placement. It's not a permanent adoption," spokesman Gordon Schultz of the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services said September 22.

He said the boy was placed with Louis and Ross Lopton of Seattle, a gay couple in their late 30s who have been licensed as foster parents by the state.

"We have told the court... we are not going to take any steps toward permanent adoption" until the mother's bid to regain custody is resolved, Schultz said.

The boy's mother, Megan Lucas, 22, of Orcas Island, filed a motion in Whatcom Superior Court in Bellingham seeking to reverse her Sept. 9, 1992, decision to surrender custody.

Lucas, currently married and the mother of a 17-month-old daughter, said she is now in a position to offer her son a stable home and did not want him raised by homosexuals. The mother said she is getting harassing telephone calls from people who wrongly believe her goal is to prevent the boy's adoption by two gay men.

"I mean, we don't agree with that lifestyle, but that isn't the reason we want him back. We've wanted him back all along," said Lucas. "They think I'm a bigot or homophobic, but I'm not," she said. "I don't want my child raised like that."

Court Commissioner Charles Snyder on Monday lifted the temporary restraining order Lucas had obtained against the state, clearing the way for the boy's placement with the Loptons. Snyder said Lucas had failed to show she was likely to prove her claims and had waited too long to act. Lucas contends she was pressured by

state officials to terminate her parental rights. She had the child when she was a teen-age, single-mother with a drinking problem and a tendency to run away from home. She left the baby with her 17-year-old sister in 1990. Since then, she said, religion and marriage had helped her turn her life around.

"We haven't always been the best place for him, but we are now. Nobody seems to recognize that," Lucas said. "Our house is a normal, loving household.”

Parents who feel they were under duress when relinquishing those rights are given a year to act, but that period expired before Lucas took action, filing her revocation-ofconsent petition Sept. 9, 1993.

Lucas' petition is still pending, however. Washington is one of a half-dozen states that permit adoptions by same-sex couples. Since 1985, about 100 gays have gained parental rights in court, according to the

National Center for Lesbian Rights in San Francisco.

Rebecca Perbix, who leads group counseling for gay and lesbian adoptive parents, a supervisor at Children's Home Society, said the couple had been very active in the organization's programs and group sessions.

"As far as they're concerned, that child is theirs emotionally," Perbix said. "They have done everything they are supposed to do. It's now up to the state and the courts."

Mom sues mom for custody of son

Madison, Wis.-The split-up of a lesbian couple in Madison has led to a custody battle over a 5-year-old boy.

Sandra Lynne Holtzman has asked Circuit Judge Richard Callaway to award her custody of the boy, who is staying with his mother, Elsbeth Knótt. A hearing has been set for Oct. 1.

Court records filed by Holtzman state that the boy was born to Knott in Boston through artificial insemination of sperm from an unknown man.

Holtzman, 42, and Knott, 45, were a couple for 10 years during which the boy was conceived and born to Knott, the records state. They also exchanged vows at a commitment ceremony on Sept. 15, 1984, and jointly decided to have a child, according to court records.

"What it shows is their commitment," said Carol Gapen, Holtzman's lawyer. "When two people do that, it shows their intent."

Holtzman said she raised the boy with Knott during the last five years. She was present at the birth in Boston and was named as a parent at a church ceremony, she said.

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But the couple's relationship ended and, when they separated in May, the boy remained with Knott.

Gapen said the case is legally difficult because Wisconsin law does not recognize her client as a parent. Instead, Gapen said, Holtzman is attempting to win custody as a third party, outside the role of biological parent or legal guardian. Third parties can be awarded custody if they can convince a judge that a biological parent is unfit or unable to care for a child, Gapen said.

"These are tough cases, and we have to look at the best interest of the child," Gapen said.

It is unclear from the court file whether Knott has a lawyer. An attempt to contact Knott by telephone at her home for comment was unsuccessful.

The papers filed by Holtzman say that Knott grew increasingly restrictive in allowing Holtzman to visit the child during

the summer and finally prohibited contact in August.

Holtzman's papers accuse Knott of being unfit to care for the child. She asks Callaway to grant her custody of the boy while allowing restricted visiting privileges for Knott.

A 1991 state Supreme Court decision concluded that, when a lesbian couple split up, the non-biological parent could not obtain visiting privileges as a parent, Gapen said.

Gapen said that, in the eyes of the law, Holtzman has the same status as a member of an unmarried opposite-sex couple who break up after several years of raising a child that was born during a previous relationship.

"It certainly seems to me that the law should be changed to look at relationships rather than solely biological ties, but at present we've got the law we've got," Gapen said.

Peri Jude Radecic is named new NGLTF head

On September 13, the board of directors of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) named Peri Jude Radecic as the organization's new executive director, effective November 1. Radecic, who currently serves as a deputy director for public policy, will replace Torie Osborn, who announced her resignation in early September.

"Peri Jude is a Task Force success story," said Elizabeth Birch, co-chair of the board of directors. "With her dynamic leadership abilities, institutional knowledge, and tireless energy, the Task Force could not be in better hands."

Radecic, 33, brings more than 15 years experience in movement organizing, management, communications and political skills to her new position. She joined the Task Force staff in 1987, organizing the

lobby days surrounding the 1987 March on Washington. Later she became the organization's first legislative director, and was promoted to her current post in 1991. She was a key figure in the successful effort to pass the Hate Crime Statistics Act, a key legislative victory for the gay, lesbian and bisexual community.

"Our work will be a strategic mix of building and strengthening our movement at the state and local level, combined with a more aggressive federal lobby," said Radecic.

"Peri Jude is a brilliant choice," said Osborn. "I am looking forward to working with her very closely over the next month and a half to ensure a smooth transition." Osborn in her resignation letter stated her desire to move onto freelance work building the gay and lesbian movement. ✓

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