Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, April 4, 1994 TAG: 9404040101
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-3 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium
A year later, she waits with increasing anxiety for a Virginia Court of Appeals ruling in the bitter custody fight with her mother that thrust her into the national spotlight.
She finds it difficult not to think about the case every waking moment.
"I keep myself very busy," Bottoms said in an interview at the suburban apartment she shares with April Wade. "Our house stays very clean. I just do things to try to keep it off my mind."
But scattered throughout the apartment are many reminders: framed photos of 2-year-old son Tyler, a poster-board card from supporters in California stapled to the boy's bedroom wall, a lace doily with an ornate cutout of the child's name on a living room table.
Tyler has lived with grandmother Kay Bottoms since April 5, 1993, five days after a juvenile court judge declared Sharon Bottoms an unfit mother because she is a lesbian. The ruling was upheld by a circuit court judge.
Bottoms' appeal was heard in February, and a ruling could be issued at any time.
Richard Ryder, attorney for Kay Bottoms, said she is "getting apprehensive" as she awaits the court's decision. "She wishes the decision would come on down," he said.
For Sharon Bottoms, it has been a difficult year. She has had to answer blunt questions about her sex life, and many people see her as a gay rights standard-bearer, a role the 24-year-old woman finds uncomfortable.
Her relationship with her mother has gone from rocky to "no relationship at all," Bottoms said.
Most of all, though, she has missed Tyler.
"I miss everything about him," Bottoms said. "I miss being a mother the most."
Wednesdays are the worst. Bottoms, who is unemployed, has court-ordered visitation with Tyler from 10 a.m. on Mondays until 6 p.m. on Tuesdays. Tyler's father, Bottoms' ex-husband, is not involved in the child's upbringing or the custody case.
After Tyler goes back to his grandmother, it's up to Wade to cheer up her companion.
Wade, a 27-year-old health food store manager, is barred from seeing Tyler. Friends take in Bottoms and her son for their weekly visits.
"I love him like he was my child," Wade said. "I'm not allowed to see him at all, and I don't know too many people that sort of thing would sit well with."
by CNB