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Bottoms V. Bottom Case Summary

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There is no lack of discrimination in the world today. In 1993, the situation was even worse. LGBT discrimination was one of the worst. The Supreme Court case Bottoms v. Bottoms is an excellent example of that. This case features a child custody dispute between a lesbian mother and a homophobic grandmother on the basis of the mother’s sexuality. Why is the fitness of a mother not being determined by her actions but by her sexuality? This case changed the views of how homosexual mothers and fathers should be judged as parents and their capabilities. As a result of this case, a mother ended up childless and an entire community was hurt by this judges ruling. 1993 had very different societal views than 2017. Laws protecting LGBT people were …show more content…

During this time, the court took many testimonies from many people, including Tyler’s father, Dennis Doustou. He stated that “Kay was totally wrong to take Tyler from his mother.” (Anderson-Minshall n.p.) Psychologists looked into Sharon and April’s household to determine their fitness as caretakers and how them being in a homosexual relationship would physically and emotionally affect Tyler. It was found that “a person’s sexual orientation does not bear a relation to that person’s fitness as a parent.” (McHugh et al. n.p.) It is also stated that many children do not encounter harassment for having homosexual parents. If any harassment occur, it tends to be harmless verbal teasing. (McHugh et al. n.p.) It is said that “courts considering what is the best interests of the child with a lesbian or gay parent have viewed the homosexual as a mentally ill person or as a child molester,” (Ronner 343) when in actuality being raised by a homosexual couple does not have any emotional differences then if the child were raised in a heterosexual household. (“Bottoms v. Bottoms” n.p.) Despite this fact Sharon was granted custody of Tyler, but lost it to Kay once again when the Supreme Court of Virginia took the

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