Would Harm Children, Raise Status of Same-Sex Couples
Allowing same-sex partners to adopt children would not be in the best interest of Scotland, or its children, says the archbishop of Saint Andrews and Edinburgh.
Cardinal Keith O'Brien, commenting on a proposal made by Scotland's Adoption Policy Review Group to allow unmarried and same sex couples to adopt, said today in a press release that the policy is "clearly not in the best interests of children."
"The proposals to permit homosexual couples to adopt are contrary to the common good," the cardinal added. "Such a measure would distort the understanding of the family, cause harm to children and promote the status of homosexual relationships.
"The demands for parental rights for homosexual partners are more to do with fulfilling their wish for status rather than meeting needs of children. It is the view of the Catholic Church that to place children in such a situation is to put them in an environment that is not conducive to their full human development."
The cardinal continued: "This is gravely immoral and in open contradiction to the principle, recognized in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, that the best interests of the child, as the weaker and more vulnerable party, are to be the paramount consideration in every case."
ZEN - Zenit (10. juni 2005)