
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, September 14, 1993                   TAG: 9309140230
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

EX-HUSBAND: LESBIAN MOTHER SHOULD GET TO RAISE HER CHILD

A man whose ex-wife lost custody of their 2-year-old son because she is a lesbian said he believes she should raise the child.

Dennis Doustou separated from Sharon Bottoms when she was two months pregnant. Although he was present for Tyler Doustou's birth, his involvement in his son's life virtually ended there.

But Doustou said he wants to get involved again now that Bottoms' mother, Pamela Kay Bottoms, has won custody.

"The way this is going, it pushes me harder to be a part of Tyler's life," he said.

In March, a juvenile court judge awarded custody to the grandmother, saying Bottoms, 23, was an unfit mother because she lived with her lover.

Henrico Circuit Judge Buford M. Parsons Jr. upheld that decision last week, finding that Bottoms' conduct was illegal and potentially damaging to the boy.

"In the opinion of this court, her conduct is immoral," he said.

Parsons refused to let Doustou give his opinion about who should raise the child. Kay Bottoms' lawyer, Richard Ryder, argued that Doustou gave up custody when the divorce was final in June 1992 and has contributed only $65 in child support.

Doustou, a 21-year-old out-of-work construction worker, said he was sorry to see his ex-wife lose her son.

"Tyler means the world to her, I know that," he said in an interview published in Monday's Richmond Times-Dispatch. "To me, Sharon has some attitudes of her mother - she wants things done her way. But she has a gentle nature."

Doustou said his former mother-in-law "is cold-hearted."

Kay Bottoms declined to respond.

by CNB