Date: Tue, 21 Jun 1994 17:09:18 -0400 From: David Casti Virginia Court Overturns Sharon Bottoms Decision From: Virginians for Justice June 21, 1994 An appellate level Virginia court announced its reversal of the Sharon Bottoms custody case this morning. The reversal allows Sharon to regain sole custody of her son, Tyler. Last fall, Judge Buford Parsons gave custody to Sharon's mother in a homophobic ridden decision. The implications of the court's ruling are still to being assessed, but it appears that the decision is somewhat specific to 3rd party cases, i.e., when the person trying to obtain custody is not a parent of the child. The appellate decision is based on the opinion that the adverse effects of a parent's homsexuality cannot be assumed without specific proof. At first look, this seems to have wide implications for all child custody cases involving the homosexuality of a parent, but the opinion also seems to be limited to 3rd party cases. The court did mention that Judge Parsons overstepped his bounds by extending the logic of Roe v. Roe, and other Virginia cases involving only parents, to the Bottoms decision. In another encouraging sign, the court mentioned that the 2 studies cited by the ACLU suggesting that homosexuality alone does determine a parent's suitability were not refuted by the evidence. Virginians for Justice, along with the ACLU of VA, are assessing the impact of the case and will release further information when available.