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Lucas, her lawyer and state officials have
given the following account of how she relin
quished her parental rights:
Lucas lived in Bellingham when she gave
birth at age 18 Shortly afterward, in early 1990,
she left the boy with her 17-year-old sister and left
the state.
Under circumstances which state officials
refuse to discuss because of privacy laws, an
investigation was made and the child was placed
in foster care. Lucas returned to the area by the
end of 1990. In the next year, she met Wade
Lucas, now her husband, and began visiting her
son.
By the spring of 1992, when she gave birth
to a girl by Lucas, she had begun efforts to regain
custody, including treatment for alcoholism. That
summer the boy was returned to her provision
ally to determine whether she should have legal
custody. After four weeks, she began feeling
overwhelmed and asked the state for "respite
care," a sort of temporary foster care for the boy.
Shortly afterward, in two sets of court pro
ceedings, she relinquished her parental rights.
Kimberly said Lucas was coerced by three state
employees to take the action. Wagner said records
of court proceedings supported the state’s claim
that she acted voluntarily.
In Wisconsin, 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
Knott.
Court records filed by Holtzman state that
the boy was bom to Knott in Boston through
artificial insemination of sperm from an unknown
man.
Holtzman, 42, and Knott, 45, were in a
lesbian relationship for 10 years during which the
boy was conceived and bom 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 Glapen, Holtzman’s lawyer. "When two
people do that, it shows their intent."
The state of Wisconsin does not recognize
same-sex weddings.
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. But the couple’s
relationship ended when they separated in May.
The boy remained with Knott.
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Gapen said the case is legally difficult be
cause Wisconsin law does not recognize her
client as a parent. Instead, he said, Holtzman is
attempting to win custody as a third party, out
side the role of biological parent or legal guard
ian. 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.
Holtzman’s papers accuse Knott of being
unfit to care for the child. She asks Callaway to
grallt 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, adding 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
bom 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.
In Arkansas, a woman fighting to keep
custody of her children says she’ll give up a
lesbian relationship if it means she can keep the
youngsters, her lawyer says.
The children’s father and mother, divorced
in 1988, are battling for custody of the children.
The names of the parents are being kept confi
dential to protect the children.
The lawyer for the father said his client was
alerted to his ex-wife’s lesbian relationship when
the two women applied unsuccessfully for a
malriage license last May. That action prompted
the father to seek custody of the children a 13-
year-old son and a 9-year-old daughter who have
been primarily in the custody of their mother
since the divorce.
Victoria Cochran, a lawyer for the mother,
said the son has lived with his father since the end
of 1992 by informal agreement of the parents. But
she said the boy’s mother has since decided that
her son would be better off with her.
Ms. Duncan, the lawyer appointed for the
chidren who favors the fatherascustodial parent,
said there were concerns about the father’s finan
cial stability and the irresponsibility of both par
ents. She also said the mother’s lesbian lifestyle
has put pressure on both children.
Ms. Cochran claimed that the father was
unfit to be a parent. He has a record of writing bad
checks, a driving-while-intoxicated conviction,
H ComUHITY
is behind on child-support payments and vio
lated a standing order not to take the children out
of the state during visitation, she said.
"Fora man of his character to get custody in
a normal case would be unheard of,” she said. She
has asked the judge to find the father in contempt
of court. "They did not put on ashred ofevidence
to prove that she is not a good mother. If our
society is that prejudiced, that’s pretty sad.”
The state Supreme Court ruled in 1987
against a lesbian mother seeking custody of her
children. But Ms. Cochran said that mother had
a history of mental problems and had made no
attempt to shield the children from her lesbian
lifestyle. Her client, however, will renounce her
current lesbian relationship if she can retain
custody.
In Virgina, lesbian and gay rights advocates
were outraged by a Richmond judge’s comment
that a lesbian mother seeking custody of her son
was "immoral" but a conservative group called
the judge courageous.
Circuit Judge Buford Parsons Jr. awarded
custody of the 2-year-old to his grandmother and
said his mother was unfit because of her openly
lesbian relationship.
"He had overwhelming evidence that being
gay and lesbian in this society is not aberrant
behavior, yet he chose to make his remark about
it being immoral," said Kent Willis, executive
director of the American Civil Liberties Union in
Virginia.
"That is dismaying."
A psychologist who studied children of gays
and lesbians testified they suffer no ill effects from
growing up in a homosexual environment.
"There is not one shred of evidence to sug
gest that this woman in particular, or gay and
lesbian people in general, are not and cannot be
fit, loving parents," said Rick Garcia, director of
the Catholic Advocates for Lesbian & Gay Rights
in Chicago.
"Judge Parsons’ ruling violates the family
unit. The ruling elevates bigotry, ignorance and
hatefulness and denigrates a loving, lifegiving
relationship between a parent and child. He
should be ashamed," Garcia said.
Anne Kincaid of the Family Foundation, a
conservative Virginia group, praised Parsons’ rul
ing and his comments. "This man has really
stepped out and courageously said there’s a place
where you draw the line in protecting this child
emotionally," she said. "What a shame that there
is such a knee-jerk reaction to the word 'moral. 1 "
Beatrice Dohrn, legal director for Lambda
Legal Defense and Education Fund Inc. in New
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