Dir. Jody Laine, Shan Ottey, Shad Reinstein
2006 60 min. USA

While the beginnings of the LGBT Civil Rights movement was gaining momentum, the 1970s witnessed horrific custody battles for lesbian mothers. "Mom's Apple Pie: The Heart of the Lesbian Mothers' Custody Movement" revisits the early tumultuous years of the lesbian custody movement through the stories of five lesbian mothers and their four children.

Narrated by Kate Clinton, the documentary interviews the sons and daughters who were separated from their mothers, the mothers themselves, and one woman who made the difficult decision to flee with her children. Founders of the Lesbian Rights Project (now the National Center for Lesbian Rights) and the Lesbian Mothers' National Defense Fund recount the founding of their organizations in response to the bevy of court rulings granting custody to grandparents, fathers and distant relatives based on the belief that lesbians would be unfit parents. Rich with archival photos from JEB (Joan E. Biren) and Cathy Cade, the documentary also features music from iconic lesbian musicians Margie Adam, Alix Dobkin, Mary Watkins and Cris Williamson.

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“This film evokes painful memories of the legal systems' treatment of mothers who are lesbians as well as the transformative nature of women's resistance. The lesbian and gay legal movement was built on the backs of these women.”
—Paula Ettelbrick, Executive Director, International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, former Legal Director of Lambda Legal, Policy Director of National Center for Lesbian Rights

"Being raised by homosexuals was in no way damaging to my psyche or childhood experience. What ultimately proved to be traumatic was the legal system's blatant and unwelcome intervention into our family life, deciding for us what and who constitutes good parents."
—Devin Glaser, son of Jean Kasota featured in "Mom's Apple Pie," Seattle Gay News

"At a time when same-sex marriage is on the horizon, it's hard to remember that, a generation ago, lesbians routinely had their children taken away from them by the courts. "Mom's Apple Pie" brings this history back to life - the pain and the heartbreak, but also the heroic resistance of lesbian mothers."
—John D'Emilio, Professor of History and Gender & Women's Studies, University of Illinois at Chicago

“This film breaks my heart---and gives me hope. Thank you...”
—Suzanne Pharr, Author of Homophobia as a Weapon of Sexism, Former Director, the Highlander Center