Two well-known cases of lesbians fighting for custody were fought in Seattle, around the time that LMNDF was founded. One of the "most famous" cases of lesbian custody was fought by two Seattle women, Sandy and Madeliene in the early 1970's.[1] This was officially called the Shuster-Issacson case, which was the consolidation of two custody cases in which the fathers and former husbands of the lesbian couple sued Sandy Shuster and Madeleine Isaacson for custody of their children.

According to the Hastings Law Journal, during the original contested divorces-- in which their lesbianism was discussed--the women were awarded custody of their children contingent upon the physical separation of the two women and their children[2]; in other words, they could keep their kids but not live together as a family. In response, Sandy and Madeleine found separate homes across the hall from each other. The two fathers subsequently contested custody, arguing that since they had remarried they could provide adequate homes, that the two women were in fact living together against court orders and that they had publicized their relationship.[3]

In support of the lesbian mothers' case, a film was made called Sandy and Madeliene's Family, which featured supportive testimony from Margaret Mead.[4] In addition, many expert witnesses testified on their behalf. "After a lengthy trial in which twenty-one witnesses were introduced, including eleven psychiatrists and psychologists, the court found that the change in circumstances was not sufficient to require a change in custody from the mothers to the fathers. The court noted that 'almost all of the testimony of all the people who actually saw, examined, or talked to the children was that the children are healthy, happy, normal, loving children.'"[5]

Around the same time period, Marilyn Koop was not so lucky, when a judge in the same county removed custody of two of her three children.[6] Her children were at one point placed in a juvenile detention center when they refused to live with their father by a judge who thought this a better alternative than returning them to their mother’s “abnormal” and “highly detrimental” living arrangements (as a lesbian couple).[7]

References

1. Rivera, Rhonda R. "Our Straight-Laced Judges: The Legal Position of Homosexual Persons in the United States" in Hastings Law Journal 799 1978-1979,799-955.
2. Rivera, Rhonda R. "Our Straight-Laced Judges: The Legal Position of Homosexual Persons in the United States" in Hastings Law Journal 799 1978-1979,799-955.
3. Rivera, Rhonda R. "Our Straight-Laced Judges: The Legal Position of Homosexual Persons in the United States" in Hastings Law Journal 799 1978-1979,799-955.
4. Polikoff, Nancy. Beyond (Straight and Gay) Marriage: Valuing All Families Under the Law. Beacon Press: Boston, 2008.
5. Rivera, Rhonda R. "Our Straight-Laced Judges: The Legal Position of Homosexual Persons in the United States" in Hastings Law Journal 799 1978-1979,799-955.
6. Rivera, Rhonda R. "Our Straight-Laced Judges: The Legal Position of Homosexual Persons in the United States" in Hastings Law Journal 799 1978-1979,799-955.
7. Polikoff, Nancy. Beyond (Straight and Gay) Marriage: Valuing All Families Under the Law. Beacon Press: Boston, 2008.