The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry ("AACAP")
is a nonprofit professional organization representing over 6,000 child and
adolescent psychiatrists. Its members are physicians with at least five years
of additional training beyond medical school in general and child and adolescent
psychiatry. Its members actively research, diagnose and treat psychiatric
disorders affecting children, adolescents, and their families. AACAP is
committed to protecting the well-being and rights of children and their
families. It advocates for the best interests of the child or adolescent.
The American Psychological Association, a nonprofit scientific and
professional organization founded in 1892, is the major association of
psychologists in the United States. The American Psychological Association has
more than 120,000 members and affiliates, including the vast majority of
psychologists holding doctoral degrees from accredited universities in the
United States. Among the American Psychological Association's major functions
are promoting psychological research and promulgating the results of this
research as it applies to important human concerns. A substantial number of the
American Psychological Association's members are concerned with research and the
provision of psychological services pertaining to families and children, human
sexuality, and attitudes toward stigmatized groups.
The American Psychological Association has submitted amicus briefs in
important cases throughout the country that raise issues to which psychological
research and opinion are pertinent. The American Psychological Association's
amicus briefs have been relied upon by the majority, as well as key
concurring and dissenting opinions, in many cases of national significance.
E.g., Maryland v. Craig, 497 U.S. 836, 855 (1990);
Hodgson v. Minnesota, 497 U.S. 417, 437 n.24, 454 n.38 (1990)
(plurality opinion); id. at 494 (Kennedy, J., concurring in part and
dissenting in part); Bowers v. Hardwick, 478 U.S. 186, 199, 202
n.2, 208 n.3 (1986) (Blackmun, J., dissenting); Kentucky v.
Wasson, 842 S.W.2d 487, 490 & n.1 (Ky. 1992).
The National Association of Social Workers, Inc. ("NASW"), a
nonprofit professional association with over 150,000 members, is the largest
association of social workers in the world. The Virginia Chapter of the NASW
has over 3,100 members. NASW is devoted to promoting the quality and
effectiveness of social work practice, to advancing professional learning, and
to improving the quality of life through the application of social work
knowledge and skills. Through its Code of Ethics (NASW, 1993), the NASW
bans discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and encourages social
workers to act to protect the rights and opportunities of oppressed groups,
including lesbian and gay persons. In its Policy Statement on Lesbian and
Gay Issues (August 1993), NASW encourages the recognition and protection of
the rights of lesbians and gays to be granted custody of their children and to
provide foster and adoptive care where they are otherwise fit parents.
Amici believe that parent-child bonding, especially during the early
months and years of life, is crucial to a child's development and well-being.
Disruption of this relationship should be based only on compelling reasons, such
as concern for the life, physical safety, and mental health of the child,
certainly not on a parent's sexual orientation. The relevant social science
research shows that an individual's sexual orientation does not correlate with
the person's fitness as a parent.
Amici submit this brief to bring to this Court's attention the
principal body of scientific knowledge pertinent to the questions posed in this
case. It is particularly important that the Court consider such scientific
research in view of the widespread prejudice and stereotyping that exists with
respect to gay men, lesbians, and bisexual people in the United States.
Sharon Bottoms is the mother of two-year old Kenneth Tyler
Doustou ("Tyler"). Pamela Kay Bottoms ("Kay Bottoms"),
Tyler's maternal grandmother, instituted proceedings to obtain custody of Tyler.
The juvenile court removed Tyler from Sharon's custody and awarded temporary
custody to Kay Bottoms. Following a hearing, the Circuit Court held that
Sharon Bottoms' lesbian relationship with her partner, April Wade, rendered her
an unfit parent and that she should therefore lose custody of Tyler.
App. 196-99.
The Court of Appeals reversed the decision of the Circuit Court.
Bottoms v. Bottoms, 444 S.E.2d 276 (Va. App. 1994). Because the
social science evidence indicated that "a person's sexual orientation does
not bear a relation to that person's fitness as a parent," and because the
trial court had before it "[n]o evidence . . . that tended to prove that
Sharon Bottoms' living arrangement with April Wade and their lesbian
relationship have harmed or will harm Sharon Bottoms' son," the Court of
Appeals reversed the trial court's ruling in favor of Kay Bottoms and ordered
custody of Tyler restored to Sharon Bottoms. Id. at 283-84.
This Court granted review on the question whether the Court of Appeals
"erred in deciding that the best interests of [Tyler] was to grant custody
to his mother." Amici will address whether the Court of Appeals
correctly concluded that a mother's involvement in a lesbian relationship does
not render her an unfit parent, where psychological and social science research
affords no basis to rebut the presumption of fitness of a natural parent and
there is no evidence that the child has been or will be harmed while in the
mother's custody.
Sharon Bottoms gave birth to Tyler on July 5, 1991, and raised him until
April 5, 1993, when the Juvenile Court awarded custody of Tyler to Sharon's
mother. During the hearing in the Circuit Court, Sharon Bottoms testified that
she and April Wade have made a lifetime commitment to each other. App. 41.
Substantial evidence was submitted to demonstrate that there was no basis for a
claim that Sharon Bottoms was an unfit parent. App. 136-43, 152-68.
Dr. Charlotte Patterson, an associate professor of psychology at the
University of Virginia, testified on behalf of the court-appointed guardian in
this case that she had reviewed the available research on how children who are
raised by a lesbian or gay parent develop psychologically, and she had found
that such children develop similarly to children raised by a heterosexual
parent. App. 117-28. Dr. Patterson testified that there is no evidence in any
of these studies that a child raised by a lesbian or gay parent will be
disadvantaged relative to a child raised by a heterosexual parent. App. 127-28.
Dr. Rochelle L. Klinger, a practicing psychiatrist and an assistant
professor of psychiatry at the Medical College of Virginia,
In cases where children do experience harassment relating to a parent's
sexual orientation, the incidents generally are infrequent and consist of
relatively minor verbal teasing, such as name-calling.
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