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

DATE: TUESDAY, November 16, 1993                   TAG: 9311160159
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Medium

TOT'S LESBIAN MOTHER APPEALS CUSTODY RULING

A judge who ruled a lesbian an unfit mother had no legal basis for denying her custody of her 2-year-old son, her lawyers argue.

Lawyers for Sharon Bottoms asked the state Court of Appeals on Monday to overturn a September ruling that gave custody of the boy to Bottoms' mother.

"There is no basis or rationale for a presumption that a parent living in a same-sex relationship is unfit to have custody of his or her own child, and that the child should be given to the custody of a third party," their brief said.

The lawyer for the child's grandmother, Kay Bottoms, has 25 days to respond. A hearing will be held later.

Henrico County Circuit Judge Buford Parsons' ruling enraged gay activists. He said Sharon Bottoms' "immoral" relationship with her live-in lover made her an unfit mother to Tyler Doustou.

Parsons upheld a juvenile court ruling that awarded custody of the boy to Kay Bottoms and gave Sharon Bottoms visitation rights. The boy's father was not involved in the case.

Sharon Bottoms' lawyers said the judge erred by basing his decision on a Virginia case in which a homosexual parent was denied custody but custody was awarded to the other parent.

That case "involved a custody dispute between two natural parents - two parties who stood on equal legal footing before the courts," said the brief. "The sole legal question before the court was the best interests of the child."

The parties in the Bottoms case, in contrast, "are on drastically different footing.

"Under well-settled Virginia law the mother is presumed to be the preferable custodian . . ..

"No other court in the entire country has held that a natural parent's same-sex relationship presumptively requires transfer of custody to a third party," the brief said.

Sharon Bottoms' lawyers said testimony showed Tyler is a happy child who showed no signs of being upset by his mother's same-sex relationship.

Representing Sharon Bottoms are Donald K. Butler, a Richmond lawyer, and Stephen B. Pershing, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union in Virginia.

Kay Bottoms' lawyer, Richard Ryder, said he would file his response in a few days.

"The evidence clearly showed that Sharon was an unfit parent other than the lesbianism," he said. "I don't believe the Court of Appeals will reverse it. If it does, we're going to the Virginia Supreme Court."

by CNB