These women lost their children because they were lesbians – why can’t the government say sorry? | Sophie Wilkinson

As late as the 1990s, the law sided with fathers over custody on the basis of a woman’s sexuality. I detailed the scandal for Radio 4, and was shocked at the cruelty involved

I am more than just aware of the faint outlines of queer history – it is something I see in Technicolour. I immerse myself in lesbian books, films and art, and have written all sorts of articles about contemporary lesbianism. It is for this reason that I was shocked to learn only recently of the state having removed children from the custody of lesbian mums.

In July, a radio producer contacted me to tell me about 74-year-old Judi Morris, whose son George had slid into heroin addiction and fallen in and out of the criminal justice system. The call started a journey that would end in a radio documentary, Missing Pieces: The Lesbian Mothers Scandal.

Sophie Wilkinson is a freelance journalist who specialises in entertainment, celebrity, gender and sexuality

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