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

DATE: FRIDAY, September 16, 1994                   TAG: 9409160076
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                 LENGTH: Short

COURT WON'T GIVE CUSTODY TO LESBIAN

The state Supreme Court on Thursday denied a request to award lesbian mother Sharon Bottoms custody of her 3-year-old son pending an appeal of a lower court decision.

The court also refused to expedite the case. Attorneys for Bottoms had made the requests, citing recurring problems between her and her mother over visitation rights.

Henrico Circuit Judge Buford M. Parsons Jr. last year awarded custody of Tyler Doustou to Bottoms' mother, Kay Bottoms.

The Virginia Court of Appeals, an intermediate appellate court, ruled in June that Parsons had erred in ruling that Sharon Bottoms was an unfit mother because of her open relationship with another woman. The three-judge panel awarded custody to Sharon Bottoms.

But Kay Bottoms appealed the ruling to the Supreme Court, which had the effect of keeping Parsons' custody award in force.

Under Supreme Court procedures, Sharon Bottoms' attorney will ask a three-judge panel of the high court to grant full review of the case. If the panel rejects the request, the Court of Appeals' ruling would be the controlling decision in the case, and she would get custody.

If the high court agrees to review the case, another round of briefs would be filed.

Sharon Bottoms has her son from 10 a.m. on Mondays to 6 p.m. on Tuesdays.

by CNB