Reproductive Injustice Through a Queer Lens: A Brief History of the Lesbian Custody Issue

Maddie McAllister ’26

Reproductive Injustice Through a Queer Lens tells the story of the brave lesbian mothers of the late twentieth century who organized and fought for the right to raise their own children and views their efforts through the lens of the reproductive justice framework.

References:

  • Hunter, Nan D., and Nancy D. Polikoff. “Custody Rights of Lesbian Mothers: Legal Theory and Litigation Strategy,” 1976. Rhonda Copelan Collection, Box 2, Sophia Smith Collection of Women’s History
  • Lesbian Mothers’ National Defense Fund. “A Victory in Illinois!” Mom’s Apple Pie, May 1977.
  • Lesbian Mothers’ National Defense Fund. Mom’s Apple Pie, November 1977.
  • Mom’s Apple Pie: The Heart of the Lesbian Mothers’ Custody Movement. San Francisco, California. Directed by Jody Laine, Shan Ottey, and Shad Reinstein, 2006.
  • Rivers, Daniel Winunwe. Radical Relations: Lesbian Mothers, Gay Fathers, & Their Children in the United States since World War II. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press, 2013.
  • Ross, Loretta, & Rickie Solinger. Reproductive Justice: An Introduction. Oakland, California: University of California Press, 2017.