:58:19
I submit we may safely disregard...
:58:22
my client's high-spirited iconoclasm...
:58:25
of more than 10 years ago...
:58:27
and the minor scrapes into which she has,
like many another ofher generation...
:58:32
been led.
:58:34
Uh, as we've heard today,
she's put all this far behind her...
:58:37
and she now takes not the slightest interest
in any of the modern-
:58:41
current radical feminist movements.
:58:45
As to her relationship with Miss Bryant...
:58:49
which my client strongly maintains
her husband was not only aware of...
:58:52
but actually encouraged...
:58:55
Your Honor is certainly aware
of many recent cases...
:58:59
in which the principle
that a lesbian preference...
:59:02
in no way diminishes
a woman's ability to be a good mother...
:59:05
has been upheld.
:59:09
I am prepared to accept
Miss Powell's contention...
:59:11
that her client's writings
and former opinions...
:59:14
however forcibly expressed,
have no bearing on the present situation.
:59:18
However...
:59:20
I cannot pretend to have gained
a very reassuring impression...
:59:23
of Mrs. Miles's character
and stability...
:59:26
and I continue to regard the matter of
her open lesbianism with considerable seriousness.
:59:32
I fully appreciate that another court
might take a more lenient view...
:59:36
but this is not another court.
:59:40
Mr. Miles's failure to be aware of
what was going on under his nose...
:59:44
may lay him open to
accusations of naiveté...
:59:47
but it is not a crime to be unobservant,
and I see no reason to doubt his word in this.
:59:53
The fact remains
that a lesbian relationship...
:59:56
is not a proper setting
for the rearing of a child...
:59:59
particularly when that child is a boy.