September 1980 HIGH GEAR Page 3

Lesbian wins N.J. custody battle

Compiled by Jil Clark

TRENTON, NJ.. (GCN) A superior court judge here has ruled strongly in favor of a lesbian whose custody of her two children was challenged by her estranged husband last March.

Significantly, Rosemary Dempsey. 35, is active in the lesbian-feminist movement and has lived for five years with her lover, Margaret Wales, and Wale's three children: Judge William D'Annunzio, in ruling that neither her cohabitation with her lover nor her activism are detrimental to Dempsey's children has established a precedent in New Jersey

(Precedent against denying a lesbian custody on basis of her lesbianism alone had been set earlier this year in New Jersey by an appellate court judge granting custody to the mother in 'SP V JP")

Dempsey, a student at Rutgers University Law School, believes that the language used by D'Annunzio in his decision reflects a changing attitude toward lesbian mothers in this country "He referred to us as 'a family'," she said. The judge went on to describe their home as "warm and loving, though unconventional ".

"Her sexual prefrence and relationship with Wales are only two of many factors to be considered in determining the best interest of the children," he stated

While Dempsey and Wales were away on a week's vacation last March. Dempsey's exhusband, Edward Belmont, 34. obtained a temporary injunction for custody of their children. Edward 11, and Christina 10

"When Eddie realized that the kids were home with a babysitter, he came and snatched them, knowing he could obtain a temporary injunction.... because he's an attorney (with the Mercer County Public Defenders Office). and knows all the judges in the county," Dempsey told GCN.

Belmont was granted the temporary injunction the next morning, although the court had to transfer the case fo Hunterdon County, were the couple had gotten their divorce in 1975. (The court had granted Belmont liberal visitation rights at that time)

Dempsey and Wales, informed by the babysitter that something ws amiss, returned home immediately and took the two children to a friend's house. Dempsey said "They (the children) had a hard time with him (Belmont) when this was going on because

they had told him that they didn't want to leave this home.. and they saw in writing what he was planning to say to the court about this home."

Belmont sued in Hunterdon County Superior Court for custody of Edward and Christina on the grounds that they were being neglected and left unsupervised while his ex-wife and Wales were on vacation. He also charged that the lesbian relationship was harmful to the children: According to Dempsey, he complained that "the kids' socks were dirty and they couldn't drink Florida orange juice because of Anita Bryant."

Testimony backing up Belmont's charges was given by himself, his new wife, and his two stepdaughters. In contrast, many "expert witnesses" testified on Dempsey's behalf including

Richard Green, M.D., a specialist in psychosexual development who has written about children raised by lesbians. According to Dempsey, Green "educated the judge... about myth's regarding lesbians."

At the conclusion of the trial, D'Annunzio stated that Belmont's evidence was "woefully inadequate to prove his.. charges, and accused Belmont of having brought the suit "in bad faith," since he "didn't produce even a scintilla of evidence from which the court could infer that Dempsey's sexual orientation was adversely affecting the children. The judge then ordered Belmont to pay Dempsey's legal fees.

"My husband presented a lousy case," said Dempsey, "and he's an attorney! (H)e thought that if he could prove lesbianism

(to the judge) that's au ne needed, to do:.

"These guys feel that they can hold lesbianism over their exwives' heads..but I don't think homophobia is the driving force: they're not worried about the'r ch'dren being raised by a lesbian mother. They're angry about finances.

"No matter if they are paying. $25 per week or $2000 per week in child support, they believe" you're spending it on booze and: drugs. They figure if they have a wife who would take care of kids, it would be cheaper to take cus-' tody than pay child support."

Dempsey added that she hoped D'Annunzio's ordering her exhusband to pay her legal costs would deter more non-custodial fathers from suing for custody (Continued on Page 11)

U.S. House passes anti-gay

amendment

WASHINGTON, DC (GRNL) The United States House of Representatives has passed, by a surprisingly large margin of 290 to 113, an amendment to the Legal Services Corporation appropriations legislation (HR 7584) designed to prohibit the Legal Services Program from handling gay-related cases, according to the Gay Rights National Lobby The amendment, offered by the anti-gay leader Larry McDonald (D-GA),

took place on July 22 Although the amendment occurred on the floor without official advance word, the Gay Rights National Lobby had predicted it and has issued a Congressional Action Alert" (among other actions) to try to defeat it A similar amendment to the Legal Services Program passed in 1977 by 230 to 133

The increased margin of loss can be partially attributed to the political paranoia that has over-

Gayrun draws 500 runners

SAN FRANCISCO--GAYRUN '80, the first gay-organized, AAUsanctioned footrace was held in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park July 27th. Five hundred runners from 10 states. England and Canada competed for honors in five and ten-kilometer events. The event was blessed with perfect San Francisco weather and was, by all runners' accounts, a huge success.

GAYRUN '80 was sponsored by The ADVOCATE, the Bay Area-based national gay newsmagazine, and Frontrunners, San Francisco's gay running club Sanctioning of the race by the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) was the first ever granted to a gay-organized running event. The race was open to eve-

ryone and attracted runners from age 15 to 63, some with past race victorios and many for whom GAYRUN '80 was their first race About one-quarter of the runners were women.

Among the high points of the day was the announcement by Tom Waddell of plans for an international "Gay-Olympics" to be held in San Francisco in the summer of 1982. Waddell, who also ran in the 10-kilometer event, is a San Francisco physician who competed in the decathalon at the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games. He has been active in the growth of the gay amateur athletic movement in recent years. Competitors in the Gay Olympics will represent cities, not countries, from around the world

ON THE COVER Proceeds from GAYRUN '80

On the occasion of HIGH GEAR'S 6th birthday, the staff would like sincerely to express its appreciation to readers and advertisers for their continuing support and encouragement:

were donated to the Golden Gate

Park Maintenance Fund, a nonprofit group. Staffing for the race was provided by a group of 70 volunteers from The ADVOCATE and Frontrunners First aid stations were provided by the Bay Area Physicians for Human Rights, San Francisco's two-year old organization of gay doctors. Calistoga Mineral Water Compapy donated bottled water.

GAYRUN '80 was conceived by ADVOCATE publisher, Peter Frisch, and associate editor. Scott Anderson, both active runners and members of Front, runners. Scott Anderson was the Race Director for the event. Said Frisch, "Seeing 500 mostly gay men and women set off on footrace was, for me, a new kind of high. I'm proud to have been a part of GAYRUN '80 and look forward to many races in other cities where gay people will have the opportunity to compete and have fun."

Scott Anderson had the following comment: "Our attempt in GAYRUN '80 was to provide another way for gay people to express and feel good about themselves. The real excitement for me was not only the number of gay people who told me that this was their first race and they loved it, but also the wide representation of women and minorities, young and old,'gay men and lesbians as well as straight runners. I was really pleased with how well the race was managed and by all the support we got from the non-gay running community. I am sure that next year's GAYRUN '81 will be even better."

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whelmed the Congress in this election year A number of other factors probably played a role in the wide margin of loss. They include (1) the general political climate which seems to be swinging away from social justice issues, (2) the wording of the 1980 amendment, which alludes to "promoting" homosexuality. and therefore frames the issue in a very difficult way for pro-justice forces; and (3) the wide discrepancy between the funds available to the anti-gay lobbies in Congress and those available to the only full-time gay/lesbian lobby in Congress. Moral Majority and Christian Voice are budgeted for $8 Million this year while the Gay Rights National Lobby was only able to raise $50,000 last year

GRNL Executive Director Steve Endean described the amendment as part of the election year strategy of Christian Voice, Moral Majority, and the rest of the "New Right." "In addition to enacting anti-gay legislation, the amendment was designed to force a role call vote

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on the issue so it could be used against pro-gay members of Congress," Endean said.

Even as Gay Rights National Lobby prepared to fight to delete the amendment from the bill in Senate sub-committee, Endean admitted that the task would be extremely difficult. “Although we have a chance of deleting the amendment when the bill goes into Senate sub-committee, there is still a very real chance of a floor amendment to re-insert it, and, if this is a part of an election year strategy by the Right, as suspected, such a floor amendment seems almost certain." Endean said.

GRNL pointed out that the anti-gay amendment to the Legal Services bill is just one section of the "Family Protection Act" and predicted that enactment of this amendment could release a floodgate of similar amendments, just as it has on the abortion issue. And, like the Legal 'Services amendment, they could cut off gay access to various government programs.

Navy drops charges against sailors

LONG, BEACH, CALIF. (Los

Angeles Times) The Navy suddenly dropped charges recently against the remaining four sailors accused of lesbian acts aboard the USS Norton Sound.

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Officer 2d Class Sharris Heusser, 25, of Minnesota. The threat of dismissal also was lifted.

"There will be no record of the charges in their files," said Navy attorney Lt. Andrew Hiblar, who during the last three weeks has presented evidence against four other female sailors. Two were found guilty and two were

The captain of the missile test ship. Cmdr. James Seebirt, dis· missed the cases after he was advised by a Navy attorney that "it would be very difficult to sub-cleared. stantiate" the remaining charges.

All allegations of lesbianism were dropped against Fireman Louise Fitzmorris, 27, of Maine; Petty Officer 2d Class Carole Brock, 23, of San Jose, Calif.; Petty Officer 3d Class Norma Hohl, 20, of Missouri and Petty

At a press conference, the American Civil Liberties Union, which entered the case on the side of the defendants, announced plans to file a lawsuit. against the Navy challenging the. substance of Navy regulations banning homosexuality.