EPISODE TWO: RISHER V. RISHER

In 1974, Mary Jo Risher, a mother of two boys who lived with her partner Ann Foreman in Garland, received notice that her ex-husband was challenging her custody rights. Her ex-husband argued that Mary Jo was a serial violator of the state sodomy law and therefore incapable of providing an acceptable home environment for children. Would this be enough for a court to revoke Mary Jo’s custody rights? Could the state sodomy law really justify this kind of blatant discrimination?

KEY SOURCES

Episode 2: Risher v. Risher

Full Interview with Marjoe Davidson, August 23, 2022 (Audio with transcript)

Full Interview with Lauren Gutterman, September 15, 2022 (Audio with transcript)

Full Interview with Charlotte Taft, August 18, 2022 (Audio with transcript)

63rd Texas State Legislature, Regular Session, Jurisprudence Committee, Subcommittee on Criminal Matters, Hearing on Proposed 21.06, the Homosexual Conduct Law, February 20, 1973 (Items 630517b and 630519a) (Audio)

Mary Jo Risher and Gifford Guy Gibson, By Her Own Admission: A Lesbian Mother’s Fight to Keep Her Son (New York: Doubleday, 1977)

Associated Press Photograph of Mary Jo Risher after the Reading of the Verdict in Risher v. Risher, 1975

A Question of Love, directed by Jerry Thorpe (1978) (Video)

Mary Jo Risher on “Woman: Lesbian Mothers and Child Custody Part 2,” January 12, 1977, WNED, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC (Video)

Mary Jo Risher and Ann Foreman on the Studs Terkel Radio Hour, July 25, 1977, Studs Terkel Radio Archive, courtesy of Chicago History Museum and WFMT (Audio with transcript)

National Organization for Women (NOW), National Organizing Conference, 1966, Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America, Harvard University (Audio)

KXAS-NBC 5 News Clip of Mary Jo Risher, January 7, 1977 (Video with transcript)

Just Heavenly Fudge Factory on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, May 14, 2021 (Video)

Just Heavenly Fudge Factory Advertisement on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, May 14, 2021 (Video)