Mom's Apple Pie: The Heart of the Lesbian Mothers' Custody Movement

During the 1970s and 1980s, a time when gays and lesbians adopted a more public profile, many women who left their husbands for female partners lost court cases involving custody of their children, due to prejudice against their lifestyle (even though custody was ordinarily assigned to mothers as a matter of course). Narrated by Kate Clinton, filmmakers Jody Laine, Shan Ottey, and Shad Reinstein's documentary Mom's Apple Pie recounts the birth of the lesbian mothers' custody movement, drawing on recollections from founders of the Lesbian Mothers' National Defense Fund (among other organizations), as well as those directly involved in custody battles—five lesbian mothers and four of the now-grown sons and daughters who were affected. While obviously an activist film designed to promote—and celebrate—a particular point of view, the rather plainly made Mom's Apple Pie is nevertheless useful in both personalizing the controversy and placing it within the more general context of gender and civil rights. Although the film might have been strengthened by including opposing sides in interviews rather than just those who felt victimized, it's impossible not to be moved by the manner in which families were needlessly torn apart by antiquated ideas that—as the film makes clear—have been overruled to a large extent, at least in terms of the legal system. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (F. Swietek)