Delong v. Delong

Facts

Mother and father were married in 1985. As a condition of marriage, father asked mother to submit to a psychological evaluation to test the parties’ compatibility for marriage. During a meeting with the father’s psychologist, mother revealed that she was sexually attracted to both men and women and had engaged in sexual activity with women in the past. Based on mother’s expressed commitment to a monogamous relationship, father married mother. Three minor children were born to the marriage, and mother stayed home to care for them as well as father’s son from a previous marriage. In 1994 mother filed a petition for dissolution of marriage requesting joint legal custody of the minor children and that she be designated the primary physical custodian of the children. Father filed an answer requesting the court dissolve the marriage and award him sole custody with restricted visitation to mother. Evidence was presented at trial that mother engaged in homosexual conduct and in volved herself in extramarital affairs with women during the marriage after concluding the marriage was irreparable. Mother testified that all sexual encounters had been discreet and the children did not know the nature of the relationships. Father testified that he had an extramarital relationship after separation. The trial court awarded sole custody of the children to father, finding this would be in the children’s best interests due to mother’s homosexual relationships. The court also restricted mother’s visitation with the children, ordering her to refrain from having any person known to be a lesbian present during visitation. It further directed the guardian ad litem to monitor a telling session where mother would tell the two older children that she is homosexual.