Family Values

I read with interest your article (June 22) on the Virginia appellate court decision in the case of Sharon Bottoms, whose 2-year-old son was taken from her by a lower court because she is a lesbian. However, I was struck by your reporter’s description of a group that supported removal of the child as “a group that espouses family values.”

While it was certainly appropriate to report on their unhappiness with the appellate decision restoring custody to the mother, it is a gross distortion to describe them as espousing family values when they support breaking up the family if the mother is a lesbian.

It is the National Center for Lesbian Rights that espouses family values in this case, and not the Family Research Council, which would destroy a family in order to enforce its narrow-minded code of behavior on those who disagree with its members.

GERALD A. McINTYRE

Los Angeles